Naruto the Seal Slinger
by LightSeeker67
Summary: Naruto, while reading the Fuuin no Sho, stumbles upon a jutsu from another dimension; the Gureeto Jigen Ikoo. Using said jutsu, results in his death, or does it? He is given another chance at life; the only way to return home is to enroll in Destiny Institute for the Dangerously Insane and master the three aspects of life: Time, Space and Dimensions, but can he do it? AU/crossover
1. And so it Begins

Here's something I hope you all really like! My wonderful beta SoraKeyblade Master has beta read this and I thought I should post this! It's only an improvement from the first draft! You can be sure to see these revisions on other chapters in the foreseeable future. Let's just give him as much time as he needs though; he probably has to sort through a lot of my bs haha. Anyway, on with the WE MUST KUNG FU FIGHT!

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Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "..."_

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "..."**

Naruto: Master of Space

And so it Begins

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**Thirteen years prior to Canon...**

It was a beautiful day in Konohagakure, the sun was out blanketing the village in its warm embrace, and everything seemed peaceful. The Third Shinobi War had been over for a few years and the village was thriving under the leadership of the Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato; the Konoha no Kiiroi Senkoo (The Leaf's Yellow Flash). His fame from the war caused the village of Konoha to be known as the most powerful of all the Shinobi Nations. To honor the young Hokage the villagers had already begun the construction to add his face onto the Hokage Monument. Yes, everything was going perfectly. Suddenly an explosion rocked the peaceful village leaving a charred hole in the side of the Hokage Tower from which thick black smoke billowed. The village fell into a panic.

A masked intruder who was bound in a straight jacket, had his face wrapped in gauze, and an odd eye symbol in the center of his forehead came from the smoke and raced throughout the village with the Fuuin no Sho (Scroll of Seals) strapped to his back. Before he could get far a squad of Anbu Black Operatives, led by a young Kakashi, surround him with their weapons at the ready.

"You stole one of our village's most prized possessions. Surrender now and we won't have to kill you where you stand," Kakashi said coldly from under his Inu mask. To the surprise of Kakashi and the other Anbu the masked intruder began to laugh insanely.

"Awww, look at the little Shinobi! How old are you kid? Thirteen?" the masked intruder asked mockingly. Kakashi didn't fall for the intruders taunt even though he guessed his age perfectly; a lot of people knew him due to his use of the Sharingan. Pulling out his White Sabre, Kakashi vanished via a Shunshin and appeared behind the masked intruder. Swiftly he slashed horizontally at the man's head. In the blink of an eye the masked intruder's head was cut off and rolled on the ground before coming to a halt.

"Well that was easy. Nezumi (Rat), retrieve the Fuuin no Sho and dispose of the body." Kakashi ordered. The Nezumi masked Anbu prepared the hand seals for a katon jutsu only to stop in shock as insane laughter once again came from the masked intruder's head.

"Hahahahaha ahha hahahaha! Oh man, I never get tired of seeing the look on people's faces when I do this," the masked intruder cried as his headless body disappeared shocking everyone. A split second later it reappeared behind Kakashi and with a snap kick struck his side and sent him crashing into a nearby building. The body picked its head up; the Anbu were horrified as they witnessed black tendrils wiggle from its neck and reconnect the head to its body.

"Aw man, I'm not gay or anything, but that felt kinda good! Come on, give me my daily dose of vitamin PAIN!" the masked intruder said as he pointed to a Panda masked Anbu, the only female of the group.

"Hadan (Rupture)!" the Panda Anbu roared, unleashing an arc of chakra from her katana that easily cut the masked intruder in half. Not wanting to take any chances she unleashed a flurry of chakra arcs at the masked intruder as she roared, "Hadan Gekido (Rupture Menace)!" Each slash hit its mark not one hit the Fuuin no Sho as the masked intruder's body was cut into pieces. She sheathed her blade and got ready to burn the pieces to ash. Much to her horror the same black tendrils began to reconnect his body once more.

"Chidori!" Kakashi roared as he plunged his lightning blade into the intruder's chest. From the wound more black tendrils seeped as they constricted around Kakashi's arm.

"Oooooh yeeeeah, that's the stuff baby! I might just have to kidnap you and make you my personal dominatrix Panda bear." the masked intruder said as he blew a kiss at the Panda masked Anbu. She was outwardly disgusted, but inwardly gleeful; it was almost as if the intruder had known about her being a sadist.

Feeling Kakashi struggle to free himself from his grasp the masked intruder yelled as he crushed Kakashi's arm, "You on the other hand, are of no use to me; Daddy don't swing that way!" After he said this he flung Kekashi so hard that he literally flew all the way to the Hokage's Tower and landed next to the Yondaime who had been watching the events via the Toomegane no Jutsu (Telescope Technique).

"Kakashi are you alright?" the Yondaime asked with concern as his prized pupil held his arm in obvious pain.

"I'm fine Hokage-sama. I'm sorry, but the enemy was too much for me, not even the Chidori seemed to have any effect on him," Kakashi said, the shame was evident in his tone. The Yondaime placed his hand on Kakashi's shoulder, not only to comfort him, but to show him he wasn't ashamed.

"It's alright Kakashi, this intruder will serve as an example to all enemy nations that the Konoha no Kiiroi Senkoo is still top dog," the Yondaime said, his face devoid of all emotion. He pulled out his infamous tri-pronged kunai and the Yondaime hurled it smashing through the window as it raced through the air.

Meanwhile, the masked intruder had just finished off the last three Anbu with a flying split kick followed by a front snap kick. True to his word, the Panda masked Anbu laid on the ground near him tied up and gagged. The threat taken care of, the masked intruder then sealed the Panda masked Anbu into a strange box. Before he could leave a tri-pronged kunai impaled him in the chest. He looked at the tri-pronged kunai's intricate shiki and the masked intruder instantly recognized it.

"Well, that can't be good..." the masked intruder said. As if on cue, the Yondaime appeared in front of him with his trademark jutsu, the Rasengan, already ready as it was slammed into his chest.

"Rasengan." the Yondaime said coldly as the masked intruder was sent spiraling outside of the village and deep into the forest. The masked intruder crashed through several trees before slammed into the side of an extra sturdy great oak.

"Well what do you know, I guess that's this dimension's version of the Spatial Seal: Mold, and to get it to spiral like that!" the masked intruder praised as the wrappings unwound from his mouth. Not even a second later, the Yondaime appeared using his Hiraishin no jutsu with another Rasengan ready to end him. In a matter of seconds, the masked intruder's throat bulged, before he spit out a yellow, gleaming cube of power. _"Spacial Seal: Mold!"_

"Spatial Seal: Obliterate!" the masked intruder chanted. On the cube's six surfaces intricate symbols (spheres with a swirling diamond in their centers) were etched as the cube collided with the Rasengan in an explosion of power! The Yondaime looked in both shock and awe at the intruder's strange jutsu, which was similar to his own Rasengan.

"Man to think you can use both Spatial Seals and Dimensional Seals is astounding! You're obviously a Master level Seal Slinger." the masked intruder said, showing respect to his foe.

"Seal Slinger, what are you talking about? Who are you and why did you steal our Fuuin no Sho?" the Yondaime asked, pulling out another of his tri-pronged kunai.

"I must be mistake then; I wonder what your kind calls Seal Slinging. Tell me, what do you call your arts?" the masked intruder asked, freeing his arms from his straight jacket and flexing them. Tired of the strange man's questions, the Yondaime tossed his kunai at the masked intruder, who side steps it, only for the Yondaime to appear behind him; kunai pressed against his neck.

"I'll be asking the questions here. Now tell me; who are you and what village do you hail from?" the Yondaime asked coldly, pressing his kunai against the masked intruder's neck and drawing a bit of blood. To the Yondaime's shock, the masked intruder moves his head forward, effectively slashing his own throat, before turning around and planting a thrust kick into the Yondaime's chest and sending him flying. The black tendrils began to stitch his neck back up.

"Heh heh heh... If you must know, I'm from a place called the Destiny Institute for the Dangerously Insane. My name is Mr. Misfit, although my students call me Prof. Misfit. As to why I took your scroll..." Mr. Misfit said, opening said scroll and focusing a strange indigo chakra on his finger and sketching a strange symbol (a sphere with six rings around it, the top ring being black while the others are white. Sitting at the tip of three triangles of various sizes) inside of it.

"I just wanted to contribute is all," Mr. Misfit said before tossing the Fuuin no Sho to the Yondaime who catches it effortlessly. To say he was weirded out by the strange man was an understatement. What kind of thief steals something, managing to defeat highly trained guards, only to give up so easily? Taking a look at the symbol Mr. Misfit sketched into the scroll, the Yondaime is shocked to discover that not even he recognized it.

"I've answered your questions now answer mine. What do you call your arts? Or to put it more simply, what do you call the two attacks you used on me?" Mr. Misfit asked.

"You mean my Rasengan and Hiraishin? You've never heard of them?" the Yondaime asked, finding it hard to believe that the man had never heard of the two jutsus that made him an S rank shinobi in the Bingo Books. Mr. Misfit shakes his head in the negative.

"Wow... Um well they're called Jutsu, or skills/techniques. They are the mystical arts a shinobi will utilize in battle. To use a jutsu, the shinobi will need to use his chakra. Chakra comes from two places. (1) The body energy inherent in your trillions of cells and (2) the mental & spiritual energy gained from exercise and experience. There are four types of jutsu in our world, Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Genjutsu and Fuuinjutsu," the Yondaime explained, watching as Mr. Misfit wrote down his every word.

"I see, so this is a dimension of Shinobi/Kunoichi who use jutsu in battle. Now I understand, I've never been to this dimension, so your help is greatly appreciated." Mr. Misfit said, opening a dimensional rift and placed his notebook into it as it disappeared, and shocking the Yondaime.

"Dimensions, wait are you telling me you're from a different dimension?" the Yondaime asked. Thinking about it, the man didn't act like a normal shinobi and he called his attack Spacial Seals. Since the Yondaime's Hiraishin no jutsu is a Jikuukan Ninjutsu (Space-Time), the closest thing to inter-dimensional travel his world or dimension had; but not even he had ever come across a multidimensional being before.

"Pretty much, but I've learned all I need to about this Shinobi Dimension. So I'll be on my way, it was a pleasure to meet you. Oh and I'll take good care of Panda bear!" Mr. Misfit said cheerily before he points to seemingly nothing.

"Dimensional Seal: Evoke." Mr. Misfit said. From the tip of his finger a dimensional rift opened up and sucked him inside of it, erasing all traces of the man.

"Panda bear…?" the Yondaime asked before realization struck him! The strange man had kidnapped one of his Anbu, his fellow villager! That's when he remembered that the man still had one of his tri- pronged kunai embedded in his... Suddenly, said kunai falls from an opened dimensional rift that closed soon after; well so much for that plan.

"Hokage-sama, are you alright? Did you dispose of the masked intruder?" Kakashi asked, appearing with another squad of Anbu. The Yondaime sighed deeply, feeling the bitter sting of failure only a leader who couldn't save a subordinate could feel.

"I'm fine Kakashi, but the intruder, who called himself Mr. Misfit, has escaped with Panda..." the Yondaime said causing alarm among the gathered forces.

"We must span out, search every inch until you find this Mr. Misfit!" Kakashi ordered only for the Yondaime to halt him.

"It's no use Kakashi. Mr. Misfit used jutsus similar to mine. His Obliterate jutsu was on equal footing with my Rasengan, not to mention he can use a Jikuukan Ninjutsu called Evoke, to literally open dimensional rifts; who knows where he is now..." the Yondaime explained, omitting the whole 'being from another dimension' part. To say the shinobi were shocked was an understatement. How could such a powerful shinobi go without someone noticing such powers?

"What should we do Hokage-sama?" Kakashi asked, not knowing how he'd fare against a man not even his sensei could bring down.

"I don't know Kakashi... I just don't know... For now, we'll put him in the Bingo Book as an A ranked shinobi of unknown affiliation and with a proceed with caution status." the Yondaime said, getting salutes from his soldiers as they vanished via Shunshin. The Yondaime looked to the bright blue skies, pondering the fate of his soldier.

**With Mr. Misfit...**

Falling out of the dimensional rift Mr. Misfit pulled out the strange box.

"Good ol' Spacial Seal: Depot, never leave your home dimension without em," Mr. Misfit said with cheeky grin. The room that he found himself in wasn't the most luxurious, but it was cozy in its own way. The room was designed with a black and white minimalist theme with a white bed frame and black bed sheets and blankets. Hanging from the walls were various sculpted 3D symbols along with furniture shaped like black panthers and white tigers.

Placing the strange box on the bed Mr. Misfit said, "Spacial Seal: Ajar," as he watched the box begin to shake before the Panda Anbu emerged from the Depot box. Gazing at the female Anbu he studied her lovely curves, most likely sculpted from all the training she did, and her stunning white hair that flowed down to her hips. He found her hair to be exotic, since she was obviously no older than twenty two.

"Well what do we have here? On the prowl Misfit?" a lovely ebony woman asked. Said ebony had several piercings: Oral-lower lip, Oral-Madonna (upper lip), Nose, Navel and Oral-tongue. On her right breast was a skull tattoo with tribal vines around it. She wore a red and black double lace corset; red fingerless, elbow-length, leather gloves; a black frilly skirt with fishnet stockings; and black heels to finish it off. In her hand was a blank doll that she placed on the slumbering Panda Anbu.

"You know me Noxa, I like 'em strong and sadistic, and this one is a true Sadist! She'll fit right in with the other Professors, so do your thing girl!" Mr. Misfit says, causing Noxa to giggle before her hand is engulfed in a lavender aura.

"Dimensional Seal: Ikon," Noxa chanted before she placed her hand on the Panda Anbu's forehead and pulled out a small fragment of her soul. Placing said fragment inside her doll, the once blank doll morphed into a replica of the Panda Anbu, mask and all.

"Well her name is Koomuru Kunoo, she was an expert in assassination, and fairly skilled in swordplay. She's twenty one years old, native of Konohagakure, wherever that is. Apparently she can use chakra to produce slash arcs and… hello… she can use lightning! You really found an interesting one Misfit," Noxa exclaimed, going over all the information she pulled from Koomuru's soul. Before anymore could be said, Koomuru woke up and quickly scanned her surroundings.

"Look who's up. Hello Panda Bear, how do you like my room? Maybe if I'm lucky, you'll handcuff me to the bed and go to town on me," Mr. Misfit said perversely.

"Oh I'll go to town on you alright..." Koomuru said coldly, pulling out her katana swiftly; why they let her keep her weapon was beyond her.

"Raiton: Jigoku Sasu (Lightning Release: Hell Stab)!" Koomuru roared, channeling raiton chakra through her katana and rushing Mr. Misfit, stabbing him in the center of his chest. The raiton chakra coursed through his body before she withdrew her blade and readied another Jigoku Sasu for Noxa who just pulled out her voodoo doll.

"I don't think so missy." Noxa said, playing with her doll. To Koomuru's shock, whatever Noxa had the doll do she did as well, such as dropping her katana and doing a little dance.

"Haha, who knew she was such a good dancer!" Noxa said merrily.

"Alright Noxa, I think you've done enough. Actually, do you think you could get her to do a sexy pose for me?" Mr. Misfit asked. Getting a nod from Noxa Koomuru was forced to lay on her hips.

"What kind of jutsu is this?!" Koomuru roared in fury!

"Jutsu?" Noxa asked, not knowing what the woman meant.

"It's what her kind calls their techniques. They use physical energy and spiritual energy instead of Love (Cosmic Energy), Chakra (The Seven Main Chakras), and Will. We'll have to get her up to snuff before the new patients come." Mr. Misfit explained getting a nod from Noxa. Unable to escape, Koomuru could only wonder what her fate would be with her captors.

**Thirteen years later (Basically the start of the Canon)…**

Gliding through the trees, one Uzumaki Naruto races to the rendezvous spot, where Mizuki-sensei would meet up with him. He had failed the Genin Exams for the third time and was beginning to think he'd never become a shinobi. He had tried so hard too; he had all the other jutsus down to a key but still couldn't perform that damn Bunshin jutsu! He just couldn't understand why either; he worked on the jutsu until he passed out from chakra exhaustion, which was a hard thing for him to do.

"Aw man I can't believe I'm going to finally become a shinobi! And to think, all I had to do was steal the Fuuin no Sho and learn a single jutsu! Maybe if I learn one fast enough, I can learn another one!" Naruto yells with glee, he was practically bouncing with joy.

Once he reached the rendezvous point, Naruto eagerly opened the scroll and scanned its contents.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu? Ugh, not another freaking Bunshin jutsu! Next!" Naruto says, skipping the Kage Bunshin for another, more cool jutsu.

"Hello what's this, the Gureeto Jigen Ikoo (Great Dimensional Migration)? Sounds pretty awesome! Let's see, in order to use this jutsu all I have to do is apply chakra to the symbol and have a strong will? Pfft no one has a stronger will than Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto declared. He channeled chakra to his hands before placing it on the symbol. To his shock, the symbol absorbs his chakra and literally floats off of the pages and spirals around him as the sphere floats overhead.

"W-w-what's happening?!" Naruto asked in sheer terror as his body literally began to break down, atom by atom, molecule by molecule! The young Jinchuuriki's screams were muffled by the spiraling chakra that consumed him and drew him into the sphere. Once Naruto was completely sucked into the sphere the six rings expanded as the three triangles flew through them and disappeared into the black ring along with the other white rings; erasing all traces of the blonde Jinchuuriki.

"What the hell just happened?!" the Sandaime, who was reinstated after the Yondaime gave his life to seal the Kyuubi no Yoko inside Naruto, asked as he watched the very same blonde disappear via the Toomegane no Jutsu. Not only did the blonde disappear but so did the Fuuin no Sho! What was he thinking to allow the blonde to obtain such a dangerous scroll?! For Kami's sake, it held some of the most deadly kinjutsu Konohagakure had ever created! This was bad, no, this was horrible!

**With Naruto**

In a void of eternally darkness the three triangles ripped through it and began to spiral once more. This began the process of reconfiguring Naruto, one atom at a time. Once the blonde Jinchuuriki was fully reconstructed he found himself floating aimlessly in literal nothingness.

"W-where am I? What the heck happened to me?!" Naruto panicked and with probably cause! It was not every day that you were broken down to your basic elements and then put back together in a realm of nothingness. Was he even alive?

"Finally, I thought I'd have to wait another decade before anyone would use the seal I left behind. I gotta say, based on everything I learned about you, you're pretty retarded kid," Mr. Misfit said appearing via Dimensional Seal: Evoke and scaring the shit out of Naruto.

"AHH! Dude don't DO THAT and what do you mean I'm retarded?!" Naruto roared, pissed that this strange man in a straight jacket was seemingly mocking him.

"Well where to begin? You have no idea what chakra is and yet you use it every day. You stole a forbidden scroll filled with dangerous kinjutsu and attempted to learn one unsupervised, which led to you being here. Have I made my point yet because I can go on," Mr. Misfit said. Naruto hung his head in shame realizing that the man was right on every account.

"... Where am I anyway?" Naruto asked, finding the place rather scary.

"You're in limbo, you died like five minutes ago," Mr. Misfit says nonchalantly.

"WHHHAAAAAAAT?!" Naruto roared. He was dead?!

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There you are :P any questions? ANY QUESTIONS?!


	2. Death's Calling, Pick up the Phone!

I'm back!

Mr. Misfit: And so am I! I can't wait to kill that little retard Naruto! It's been my dream ever since I first saw him. NOT. A COLOR SHINOBI SHOULD WEAR. NARUTO!

LS67:Haha you're funny Mr. Misfit, when you say kill him, you mean beat him within an inch of his life right?

Mr. Misfit: No... I'm preeeeetty sure I'm going to kill him. Like legit end his life and shinobi carrer.

LS67: DUDE! He's the main character of the story! His name is even in the title!

Mr. Misfit: Your point?

LS67: My point is, he can't die!

Mr. Misfit: Oh shut that noise up! Everyone can die, even that little retard Naruto.

Naruto: Uh... I'm right here ya know. **Mr. Misfit pulls out a scythe**

Mr. Misfit: And let the killing begin!

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Naruto the Seal Slinger

Death Calls, Pick up the Phone!

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It couldn't be true! It just couldn't, how could Naruto be dead, before he even became a shinobi?! He had so much promise, so much potential; was all of it wasted? Why didn't he study that damn jutsu more, why didn't he skip over it? It didn't seem fair, was this really it?

"I-I can't be dead! I just can't be dattebayo!" Naruto declares, tears streaming down his face. He was going to be Hokage, he was going to show everyone he wasn't just some baka, wasn't just a failure! Meanwhile, Mr. Misfit just smiles insanely at the boy; he was enjoying this far more than he probably should have.

"Oh but you are kid. You're dead and there's nothing you can do about it. So many things left unsaid, left undone; oh well!" Mr. Misfit says with a dark chuckle; he so enjoyed fucking with departed spirits; but more was to come, much, much more.

"You think this is funny?! I'm dead at twelve dattebayo!" Naruto roars, eyes burning with rage; did his eyes just flash red?

"Your point? I've known people half your age that died. It sucks, but what can you do? That's life, well death in your case." Mr. Misfit says with a shrug of his shoulders; as if death were nothing to him... Wait a mo...

"A-are you... Shinigami dattebayo?" Naruto asks, all the color draining from his face. All rage he felt being replaced with soul shattering fright. As if to answer his question, Mr. Misfit smiles devilishly and, from a dimensional rift, pulls out a long grim scythe.

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. Either way it goes, I control your fate. If you can defeat me, I'll give you your life back, but if not heh heh heh well I think you can figure it out." Mr. Misfit says, twirling the long scythe haphazardly in his hand, before throwing it in the air above him. Naruto makes the grave mistake of looking at the scythe and pays for it,

"Spacial Seal: Mold." Mr. Misfit whispers, too low for Naruto to hear. From his hand, a yellow aura seeps and bubbles, before forming a cube in a matter of nano seconds.

"Dimensional Seal: Evoke." Mr. Misfit whispers, opening a dimensional rift beneath him as he falls in; all without Naruto even noticing. The twirling scythe seems to float in space and it's only then Naruto realizes that it's not falling back down, he quickly scans the area only to find emptiness.

"Where did he..."

"Go, probably behind you if I had to guess." Mr. Misfit says, finishing Naruto's sentence just as he thrusts the cube of power into his back.

"Spacial Seal: Obliterate!" Mr. Misfit roars, causing the cube of power to explode, literally blowing a hole, in the shape of a diamond with a pinwheel like swirl pattern, in Naruto's chest!

It all happened so fast, that time seemed to slow down. The pain hadn't even set in for Naruto as he looks at his blood and annihilated organs splatter in front of him. Once time began anew, Naruto seemingly floats in the empty abyss, eyes wide with shock.

"As a masochist/sadist, I just have to know. From a scale from 1 to 10, how much pain are you in?" Mr. Misfit asks with a wicked smile. His answer is Naruto's screams of sheer torment, his entire body too numb to even try to stop the bleeding.

"So that's a 10 I'm guessing?" Mr. Misfit asks, taking extreme pleasure in the pain he caused the blonde Jinchuuriki. The man may not have known what was inside the blonde, but he could sense there was a great power within him; so the best way to avoid unleashing it was to take Naruto out with one big shot! The darkness around the abyss begins to creep around Naruto's body, slowly consuming him. Naruto could only shed tears, this was really it huh?

"_My entire life was so pathetic... Even in the end... I couldn't do anything... Nothing..." _Those were his last words as the darkness completely consumed him and turned him to nothing... Or was it? From above Mr. Misfit, Naruto's body is literally spit out of a grinning mouth; one limb at a time. Once Naruto is fully restored, he falls to his knees; a look of absolute horror in his eyes.

"Everybody gets three strikes. You just used your first one, now you have two. You have four hours to recover before I start killing you again. I'd advise you to use it well." Mr. Misfit instructs, pulling out a blunt from a dimensional rift and lighting it with an ember from his fingertip.

"Yep, my high should be over in four hours. Can't kill my high by killing you." Mr. Misfit says, taking a deep toke of his blunt and exhaling with a content sigh. Above Mr. Misfit's head, a countdown for four hours appears and begins to count down. Seeing this as his only possible chance, Naruto rises to his feet and runs for his life away from Mr. Misfit! He didn't know where he'd go, he just knew he had to get away from that man! He ran and ran and ran with all the might of his legs, never stopping, never looking back; for that would surely spell death for him. If he would have looked behind, he would have saw he wasn't going anywhere; literally.

"You do know there's no where for you to run here right? I mean where are you going to go, you're in Hengoku (Limbo)!" Mr. Misfit says with a dark chuckle. While he could have watched the kid run forever, he figured telling him it was pointless was better; caused more fear that way.

"If you're not going to use the Fuuin no Sho, I'll gladly take it from you." Mr. Misfit says. Naruto look at him puzzled, until he realizes the Fuuin no Sho was still strapped to his back! Sitting full lotus, Naruto opens the Fuuin no Sho and gazes at its contents once more. This time, he decides to check out the Kage Bunshin no jutsu.

"Alright, I can do this, no I have to do this dattebayo!" Naruto says, the flames of survival burning in his azure eyes. Studying the content like there was no tomorrow, Naruto finds the jutsu to be simply enough; it only took one hand seal and a lot more chakra than the normal Bunshin jutsu, since he'd be creating a solid construct of himself instead of an illusion. Deciding to just wing it,

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto roars, adding as much chakra as he possibly could muster into the jutsu. Plumes of smoke erupt all around Naruto and once it clears, solid replicas, except they could barely stand; at least they didn't look sickly.

"Dammit, I know I can do this dattebayo!" Naruto says deseparately. He just had to get this jutsu down if he was going to stand even a small chance at defeating the deranged Shinigami. Before he could try again, he hears his Bunshin pop in a plume of smoke, the grim scythe flying through them like butter. Upon closer inspection, Naruto stares in horror as the scythe is held by a black tendril that comes from Mr. Misfit's mouth.

"It was getting a bit crowded in here." Mr. Misfit slurs, drool dripping from his elongated tongue. The way Mr. Misfit plowed through the Kage Bunshin only served to further his drive to learn the jutsu.

**A few hours later...**

Mr. Misfit watched as Naruto tried the Kage Bunshin over and over and over again and he had to give the kid credit; he never gave up.

"Maybe this kid isn't so retarded after all. Or maybe that's just the weed talking; because weed likes talking to my sexy ass! Seriously though, I don't know what dattebayo means, but I want it dead..." Mr. Misfit says with a chuckle, looking overhead to see the timer almost up. It wouldn't be long now, whether he got the jutsu down or not wouldn't matter once the countdown was zero; it would all be over for the boy. Meanwhile, Naruto was down to his last ounce of chakra, but he wouldn't give up, he couldn't give up! He had to beat this guy if he wanted to return to Konoha! He had to see his Jii jii again, Iruka sensei, Ayame neechan, Teuchi Jii and Sakura chan; he couldn't die here! His thoughts were halted once the countdown reached zero with an ominous bell tolling.

"Times up." Mr. Misfit says from behind Naruto, all the blood draining from his face. On sheer instinct, Naruto performs the cross hand seal for the strongest jutsu he knows.

"Tajuu Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto roars, surrounding large section of the abyss in a plume of smoke. Once it lifts, Mr. Misfit stares with mild interest at an army of nearly a thousand replicas of Naruto. All the Narutos glare daggers at Mr. Misfit, who doesn't seem to care one way or the other.

"In case you didn't know, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. Future Hokage of Konohagakure, I'm not going to die here! I have too much riding on my return and I still have to show Sakura chan how awesome I am dattebayo!" Naruto declares sending his army of replicas charging at Mr. Misfit with a battle cry! Mr. Misfit sweat drops at the blonde's declaration.

"I guess blondes really are dumb after all... Spacial Seal: Vector." Mr. Misfit sighs, holding out his index finger and channels a yellow aura through it and forms a symbol (a sphere with four arrows that point north, south, east and west.) before he points to the ground and the symbol appears beneath him.

"Let's see how smug you are with I cave your face in dattebayo!" one of the Naruto Kage Bunshin yells, getting within range to hit Mr. Misfit with his best left hook. Only once he's close to Mr. Misfit, he is thrust north wide at speeds of sixty-nine miles per hour, crashing into a number of other Kage Bunshin and going up in smoke. To Naruto's shock, Mr. Misfit didn't move an inch, he didn't even use any hand seals! _"What kind of jutsu was that?..."_

Deciding to air on the side of caution, the army of Naruto's each pull out hands full of shuriken and kunai and launch them at Mr. Misfit from all sides. The strange man makes no move to evade the onslaught; _"Tsk his funeral."_

To Naruto's horror, all of his projectiles stop in mid air, before they all soar back at their users; at greater speeds than before! A sea of smoke erupts throughout the void as Kage Bunshin after Kage Bunshin is impaled by the projectiles and dispelled. It was only after more than three-fourths of his Kage Bunshin did Naruto see the strange yellow glow from the arrows beneath Mr. Misfit.

"_So that's why none of my attacks are working, but what does those arrows do?..."_ Deciding to test out the strange jutsu the man was using, Naruto throws a blunted shuriken directly in front of him and watches the arrow closely. Just as he thought, the arrow glows and stops the shuriken, before thrusting it back at him. Naruto uses the kawarimi to replace his self with one of his Kage Bunshin that was directly on the man's side.

"Let's see you block this dattebayo!" Naruto roars, pulling out a kunai and aims to stab him in the ribs, only for him to stop in mid air.

"If you insist." Mr. Misfit says with a sick smirk, watching as Naruto is thrust to the west at sixty miles per hour! Getting tired of doing nothing, Mr. Misfit holds out his arm,

"Spacial Seal: Mold!" Mr. Misfit roars, converting his arm back to its basic shape; that of a rectangle. Stepping on the north arrow, Mr. Misfit is thrust forward at high velocity,

"Spacial Seal: Obliteration Powerline!" Mr. Misfit roars, the symbol for the Obliterate seal appearing on each surface of the rectangle. Using his speed from the Vector seal, he easily plows through the Kage Bunshin with a clothesline that obliterates all in its path.

Stopping on a dime, Mr. Misfit's straight jacket binds his arms to his chest randomly. Before Naruto can wonder what to do, he takes a runner's stance and, like a bolt, races across a Spacial Seal: Vector. Rising the arrow of the ground, Mr. Misfit leaps from the platform and does a 360 helicopter kick in a whirlwind of kicks and feet. Like a buzz saw, he rips through the army of Kage Bunshin like a fat kid on a sugar high! Taking out another one-fourth of Naruto's army, he succeeds in wiping out the near thousands of clones single handely; to add insult to injury, countless grinning mouth appear in a weird pillar that surrounds him from all sides! The grinning mouths snicker in an agonizing echo of mockery.

"Make it stop!" Naruto screams in madness, nothing he did seemed to work on the Shinigami man; who merely making Naruto his victim of his sick and cruel sense of humor.

"Two strikes." Mr. Misfit says and with that, the snickering mouths morph into blobs of white with black stripes and form that into sickle like cones that pierce Naruto in every pressure point, at least several times over.

"Gah..." Naruto breathes out, a glob of blood bursts from his mouth. Blood oozes from several hundred needle shots, the sheer pain Naruto felt was like nothing he could describe in words; well except one.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH HH!"

"Owwww daaaaamn! Definitely a ten." Mr. Misfit says, pulling out a notebook from a dimensional rift, and checking something off. Just as fast as they struck, the needles retract back into blobs and then the back to the snickering mouths.

Naruto floats in the abyss, his body slowly fading to midnight black, the darkness once again consuming more of his soul. Just as his body is almost completely black, a red dot flares and consumes him in a blaze of red youki (Demonic Energy).

"Well, this should be pretty primal!" Mr. Misfit says, releasing his arms from their bindings and flexing his arms and fingers in an odd wiggling.

**Within Naruto's Mindscape...**

Naruto's body falls from the depths of the ceilings from the Kyuubi's Boiler room. He body flops into the sewer water in a splash. The water begins to rise as the Great Kyuubi, washi his self, pumps his mighty youki into the boilers, producing intense steam that boils and produces water, that washes out of the cage and combines with the sewer water of Naruto's subconscious. The boy's body washes inside the cage and into the waiting clutches of the great kitsune.

"**This is it, I'll finally get back at those FOOLISH UZUMAKI! Let's see your musuko (son) fight of my INFLUENCE mwhahahahaha!" **the Kyuubi roars in a shrewd laughter, grabbing a hold of Naruto's miniscule body into his tremendous paws...

**Outside, in the void...**

A cloak of blazing red youki pours from Naruto's body, splashing more than half in a silhouette of a kitsune with a, blood red, slitted eye. With a roar of fury, the possessed Naruto thrusts his left, youki covered, fist at Mr. Misift, a gathering of hundreds of youki fists races towards the man.

unleashes a red mist from the center of his chest, orbits his right fist over his left fist and weaves dozens of transparent red orbs.

"Dimensional Seal: Great Spiritual Renascence!" Mr. Misfit chants, stopping the orbit and opening his palms, beams of intense xanthous (yellow) shoot from their centers and crafts symbols (circles with diamonds in their centers and circle like S shapes.) into all of the orbs.

"Multiplicity Seals: Great Depression!" Mr. Misfit chants, his voice echoing through the void. The youki fists smash into the red orbs and shatters them, but before they can reach Mr. Misfit, deep black deterioration forms on the youki fists and consumes them in darkness.

"If you haven't noticed the pattern, I'm using the darkness, the void itself, to attack you." Mr. Misfit says, completely consuming the Kyuubi's youki and condensing it into a mere red dot.

"**Tsk, I'm just getting warmed up!" **the possessed Naruto says smugly, his entire body is consumed and forms a kitsune shroud with a single, gradually expanding, tail. Converting three-fourths of the tail into raw power, the possessed Naruto forms a sphere of, focused, crimson youki.

"**Bijuudama!"** the possessed Naruto roars, firing the sphere of might at Mr. Misfit at soaring speeds! A countless swarm of black tendrils seeps from Mr. Misfit's chest and consume the Bijuudama, which explodes in an atomic bomb mushroom fashion. The shock wave completely annihilates the tendrils in an expanding, explosive, dome of white.

Both Mr. Misfit and Naruto are consumed by the light that casts away the darkness of the abyss, if only a little bit. On the grand scale of things, the explosion was but a mere white dot in the abyss. To the two inside, it was like their whole world had become bright white. The possessed Naruto was the only thing in color, being a blazing red kitsune spector, while Mr. Misfit seemingly was, no pun intended, obliterated by the force of the Bijuudama.

"**Mwhahaha foolish Shinigami trash! He was nothing compared to the being that ripped my very soul in two. That's what happens when you defy the Kyyubi washi!"** the possessed Naruto says smugly.

"Dimesonal Seal: Revoke." Mr. Misfit whispers in the possessed Naruto's ear. Turning with a swipe of his claw, the possessed Naruto slashes nothing, Mr. Misfit's mouth grinning before the rest of his body materializes into a white silhouette of his self. The possessed Naruto unleashes a volley of youki fists at Mr. Misfit, only for the fists to seemingly phase right through him.

"Spacial Seal: Depot!" Mr. Misfit howls, his mouth turns black as a vacuum of dark winds are expelled and then inhale all the youki fist. The center of his chest flares red, before it slowly consumes his entire torso before stopping. Focusing the youkai into a sphere, Mr. Misfit forces it from his chest, up his throat and out his mouth in a spit covered red ball.

"Spacial Seal: Red Room!" Mr. Misfit chants, hurling the red ball at the possessed Naruto far faster than he can dodge. The ball collides with him and consumes him in a dome of red, that reflects his image all around its surface. Walking up to the red dome, Mr. Misfit touches it will a single finger and the Kyuubi's worse fear is realized. Placing his face against the sphere, Mr. Misfit peers inside to see their fates. _"Let's watch shall we?..."_

**Inside the Red Room...**

All the possessed Naruto could see was red. Suddenly the all too familiar chill from cold hard stone strikes his back, chains shoot from withing the stone and anchors him onto it. Stone pillars shoot from his navel, through the palm of his hands, through the arches in his feet and through his tail.

"**No... NOOO! RAAAAAAAAAAHHH Not this HELL! Damn you Shinigami for knowing this accursed seal!"** the possessed Naruto roars in agony. The Kyuubi's youki instantly recedes back into Naruto's body; both him and the Kyuubi experiencing different visions of their worst fears. For the Kyuubi, he was taken away from his, admittedly, comfy Boilger cage, to the cold hard stone, chains and pillars through his body!

"**GRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"** the Kyuubi roars in sheer torment; it's entire existence seemed to be centered around the agonizing, soul crushing pain! For Naruto, it was recalling his first moments in life; his kaasan and otuosan impaled through their chests over him, their blood dripping on his freshly fuuin scarred body. Their final words go on death ears due to his crying infant state, but their faces come out clear. Their grave smiling face, in their eyes he saw deep love and regret; the regret only a parent that dies for their child could feel. Tears sting Naruto's eyes, before they fall effortless as he cries from the bitter sweet memory. He lost his parents, but he gained their love...

White chains of chakra erupt from the Hakke no Fūin Shiki (Eight Trigrams Sealing Style) and erects a Cheenkiibaria (Chakra Chain Barrier) around Naruto's body, preventing anyone or thing from neither entering nor leaving the perimeter defined by the chains.

Naruto couldn't believe his eyes, embracing him in the most comforting hug he's ever felt in his life, is Uzumaki Kushina, the Akai Chishio no Habanero (Red Hot-Blooded Habanero), his kaasan. Giving her musuko a tender kiss on his forehead, a kanji for chain appears before Kushina fades back form whence she came.

"CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT?! HAHAAA, yes this is marvelous! It would have been a shame to have to kill such a strong will." Mr. Misfit says, the straight jacket morphs into a long, deep gray, lab coat. The gauze unwraps from his face and rolls up, as he puts it in one of his pockets. His face is a midnight brown, with dark brown eyes with his hair wrapped into mid back length dreadlocks; with diamond shaped blades wrapped at the tips. Pulling out circular framed glasses, he places them over his eyes, before they shield his eyes in a tint of black.

Pulling a card from his lab coat, Mr. Misfit flicks it on the barrier as it stamps onto the barrier for Naruto and his Mother's Love to see.

"I simply had to see which was stronger. Your your Hatred (Negative energy) or your Love. I'm sorry using the Gureeto Jigen Ikoo (Great Dimensional Migration), but what's done is done. As far as your home dimension is concerned, you are dead. Your soul was thrust from your physical body, the resulting trauma severed the silver cord that connected it to your body." Mr. Misfit explains, for once showing genuine sorrow and regret for the young man's plight.

"I expected that young blonde man to use the Gureeto Jigen Ikoo along with his Hairaishin no jutsu to come chasing after me and saving his soldier. Imagine my surprise when a little carbon copy of the punk uses it instead; to think it took thirteen years. Man the Mrs. is going to be SO pissed when she finds out... I wonder if she'll get violent..." Mr. Misfit ponders, head in the clouds and fingers on his chin in deep thought. A perverse smile smears his face, _"Ooooh I hope she does..."_

"Anyway, I'm rambling. My point is, this isn't the end for you Naruto; it's only just the beginning. To put it as simply as I can, there's a way to send you back to your dimension among the living." Mr. Misfit says, with those words uttered, the chains recede back into the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki, but a flaring white aura projects a protective shell around the blonde.

"The only way for you to defy Death itself, is if you can master the three aspects of life: Space, Time and the Dimensions. I know, I know that's hard to believe... But it's the only way and the only way you're going to do that is if you move on past this point." Mr. Misfit says sagely.

"**What do you mean dattebayo/d****attebane**?**" **Naruto asks, his voice has a warp overtone of Kushina's voice.

"You're going to have to let go. Let go of your old life, all your regrets, all your dreams; everything. The longer you spend in Hengoku, the more likely the Death Slingers will get you." Mr. Misfit warns. Before they can even ask what that is, a black caped spector crashes into the white space. The spector is of behemoth stature, skin of black oil, with its bone structure completely visible in red; giving it the appearance of a blood red Skull Being. Holding its massive hands in front of it, an enormous sctyhe is conjured as the behemoth spector twirls the scythe around; unleashing arcs of black Death magic. Before Naruto can erect a barrier, Mr. Misfit points at him and fires a thin line of indigo light at him.

"Dimesional Seal: Evoke." Mr. Misfit says, opening a dimensional rift on top of Naruto, sucking him up into another dimension; only to appear behind Mr. Misfit in a weird overlapping swirl.

"Do not waste your Mother's Love on this lowly being. As a show of good faith, I will rescue you and send you to the safest place I know. There, you will meet my wife, Mrs. Koomuru Misfit, who will explain everything. See ya on the other side." Mr. Misfit explains, giving Naruto a faux, two finger, salute and opens up a dimensional rift behind him. Giving Naruto a good luck kick, he sends the blonde away to lands unknown, sealing the Hengoku with him inside.

The behemoth specter roars in fury of the wayward soul, but Mr. Misfit just scoffs at the lowly being.

"Well if it isn't one of Death's little bitch brigade. Just how many of you do I have to send back to her with their asses kick before she learns to change her game up?" Mr. Misfit says smugly.

Crafting two Spacial Seals: Obliterate, Mr. Misfit overlaps them and expands them indefinitely.

"Spacial Seal: Obliteration Rod!" Mr. Misfit roars, twirling the rod behind him like a helicopter blade and propels his self at the raging behemoth specter fearlessly!...

**With Naruto...**

"HOOOOLLLLY CRAAAAAP!" Naruto screams, free-falling from the sky into a thick, lush, forest. Remembering his shinobi training, Naruto rights his self mid air and lands safely on a tree. Looking down, he sees he's easily several hundred feet off of the ground, causing the blonde to clutch onto the tree limb for dear life.

"He didn't even give me a choice in the matter!" Naruto yells, his eyes string with tears. It was over, he couldn't become Hokage... He would never see the Sandaime, Iruka, Ayame, Teuchi, or Sukura every again. He would never make new friends and have people notice him... It was over... It was all over...

"NO! There is a way back, that dark man said there was a way home. I just have to find this Mrs. Misfit lady and I'll be that much closer dattebayo!" Naruto says hopefully, before a brillant idea hits him.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto chants, conjuring a few dozen clones, that form a ladder of Narutos, stacked on top of each. Climbing down safely, Naruto begins to dispel them, until a shadow looms over him menacingly.

"**Well I've never had a meal that could multiply; the more the merrier!" **An engrown, cabbage shell, flora demon, teeth like daggers and a long, slimy, pointed tongue. From a hole in the back of the cabbage shell, mighty vines seep and race towards the Narutos. Not wanting to be plant food, _"I hate fresh vegetables!"_ Naruto and all his Kage Bunshin scatter in random directions, though some aren't fast enough to escape the cabbage demon's, fanged, Venus flytrap's maw; resulting in a plume of smoke.

"**Smoke instead of flesh, what mockery is this?!"** the Cabbage demon roars, more than annoyed at the blonde's trick. Deciding to, no pun intended, weed out the horde, the Cabbage demon burrows its vines underground and combines them with other underground roots, before shooting out of the ground like hidden katana. Plumes of smoke erupt throughout the forest, cloaking the remaining Kage Bunshin and their caster in a hazy , one of the Cabbage demon's vines are sliced off,

"**RWAAAAAAAAAARRRGGGGH! That hurt you little vermin!" **the Caggabe demon snarls, twisting its vines around like a fan, that blows away the smoke and dispels some of the clones.

Using two of the Kage Bunshin like a slingshot, Naruto launches his self at the Cabbage demon, kunai at the ready! Seeing his attach just in time, the Cabbage demon sends a horde of vines, shaped like a drill, at the blonde, impaling him in the chest.

"**Finally got ya, you litte... Wha?" **the Cabbage demon says puzzled when the blonde goes up in smoke! Scanning it's environment through its vines, the demon can't seem to find any sign of Naruto or his clones... All it can see are two of its, severed, dead vines... Wait... TWO?!

Dispelling his henge, Naruto reveals himself in a plume of smoke with an explosive note kunai already thrown where the vines where connected to the Cabbage shell. In a grand explosion of fire and burnt cabbage, the lesser demon falls to the ground dead, but before Naruto can even celebrate, with his cheer of "Dattebayo!" a swarm of Collard green demons, with katana sharp leaf blades, Leek demons, with hundreds of fanged maws, Chive demons, with razor sharp green tips, and Onion demons, that reeks of reeking... stench of... It smells REAL bad!

Before the Vegetable demons can engorge on Naruto, a larger than life index finger and thumb, picks the blonde up by the collar and lifts him high into the sky.

"Well what do we have here. If it isn't the Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure. It's about time you came to find me Hokage sama! I guess thirteen years is better than never at all." An enormous, Panda Tiki mask wearing, woman with her long, pure white, hair tied in a ponytail with the tip in a bun.

"I-I'm not the Yondaime, Kyojin (Giant) oneesan, but I will be the next Hokage dattebayo! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, a pleasure to meet ya." Naruto says with a cheeky grin. The giant woman brings Naruto over her gigantic eye and looks at the blonde; he had never felt so exposed in his life.

"Hmmm perhaps it's because of our size difference. My apologies, Spacial Seal: Contract." the Panda Tiki giant bellows, her gigantic size slowly begins to shrink, until she's around 5'6" ft. Looking at the blonde youth, Mrs. Koomuru Misfit examines the blonde, noticing quite a few things about him.

"_Uzumaki? Like Uzumaki Kushina sama? Well he does have her face and eyes, with Yondaime sama's blonde, spiky hair. Sigh looks like we're both stuck here; nothing wrong with that I guess."_ Koomuru says mentally, nodding her head with all the insight she needed.

"Well my name is Mrs. Koomuru Misfit and I'm guessing my crazy husband, Mr. Misfit, brought you here. Knowing him, he probably told you next to nothing about where you are or the rules behind it." Koomuru says with a sigh. After spending thirteen years in the foreign dimension, she had naturally assilimated into its ways and arts in order to survive. She kept all of her shinobi/kunoichi training, though she rarely used jutsus anymore; seals was where it was at!

Naruto shakes his head in the negative; knowing next to thing about this bizarre place. Was he alive or dead, and how far away was he from Konoha?

"I figured. Believe it or not, I used to be a kunoichi for Konoha thirteen years ago and when I found myself in this strange dimension, I won't lie and say it was easy to comprehend what was going on." Koomuru says, scratching the back of her head in a sheepish gesture. Naruto couldn't believe his ears,

"You were a Konoha kunoichi?! Do you know how to return, and what could possess you to ever marry that dark guy? He's insane, you're much to pretty to be with that man dattebayo!" Naruto declares, unknowingly flirting with the older woman; in his mind he was protecting her from the guy. Koomuru couldn't help but giggle at the blonde youth,

"Aww how cute. I guess you could say love possessed me Naruto kun. I have to say it is nice to have someone from my dimension here with me; too bad it's under such grim circumstances. How's about we head to the Central Hub and get you some answers to your questions." Koomuru says, offering Naruto a warm smile and a welcoming hand. Naruto can't see her face, but the bright aura the woman gives off is too welcoming to ignore; he gladly accepts her hand and lets her lead him into a gated Institution. In front of the massive gates is an odd symbol (sphere with orbiting spiritual ribbons around it; the words No one shall enter written on them.) binds the gates shut. With a simple touch of her hand, the symbol fades away, opening the massive gates easily.

"Welcome to the Destiny Institute for the Dangerously Insane." Koomuru welcomes, guiding Naruto through the acres of institute grounds. Naruto gazes at the oddly, yet amazingly, structured buildings, made of various sphere, pyramids and cubes shoot high into the clouds towering over him. In the center there is a large tower, with a diamond shaped rooftop, and a spiraling pattern of floors going sky high; it's titled, Administration Head Quarters. To the east is a three story building, held up by pillars of elegant design and has a dome like rooftop. Next to the Kraft Center, is a building titled, Pit Stop, which looks like a luxurious lounge with several restaurants inside; was that ramen he smelled? Down a path, that leads deep into the east forests, is a sign that reads "East side Dormitories: Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capicorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

To the west is a high silo, each floor having a different shape protruding out of it. The first floor has a greenhouse dome, the second floor has a pyramid with a telescope coming out of its crown, the third floor has a cube of silver auriferous (metal) and the last floor is a roof, that has a bridge that leads to an anti-gravitational arena, in the shape of a colossal bar diamond; it's titled the Spacial Center of Defying Science.

Next to the Spacial Center, is a literal clock structured building, with ticking arms and everything. Little square windows give a glimpse into the maze of halls and gears inside. It is titled The Chamber of Horology. Leading into the woods is the library, a simple pyramid surrounded by trees. Pass the Library is a pathway into the woods that lead to west side Dormitories: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and Virgo.

"And that completes our tour, I hope you enjoyed the view, because this is all you'll be seeing for a long, long time." Koomuru says, stunning Naruto in a cluster F**k of information pounding into his little brain, causing it to swell painfully with each heartbeat. It was all too much to take in, the strange architecture, the bizarre names; he barely understood what chakra was for Kami's sake!

Through the slits of her mask, Naruto can literally see her eyes gleam in delight.

"How's about we just go to the Administration HQ and get all this straightened out." Koomuru suggests, holding her hand out as a gesture of good will. Taking her hand, the blonde is led back to the central grounds, just as Mr. Misfit crash lands in front of the them. The blonde youth covers his eyes from the debris and shock wave, while Koomuru just dusts herself off. Examining her husband's condition, she sees the arm of his glasses his broken off and a jagged gash is slashed across his face.

"Dammit, Misfit what did I tell you about being reckless? I swear on of these days you're gonna die for real!" Koomuru yells, before she sighs; seeing the smirk on Mr. Misfit's face. Before Naruto can even blink, Mr. Misfit embraces Koomuru lovingly in his arms, taking nibbles of her neck.

"What am I going to do with you..." Koomuru asks, lifting half her mask off to reveal soft creamy skin and a long pink tongue.

"Dimensional Seal: Renew." Koomuru chants, a green symbol etches on her tongue and gleams brightly. Licking her husband's wound, Naruto watches in both awe and disgust as the wound begins to heal.

"Eeeeewwwww." Naruto says, his sanity finally catching up with him.

"Dafuq you ewin' about? You've never seen a wife heal her man? After all the hassle I went through to get this from that DeathSlinger for you." Mr. Misfit says, pulling out white book.

"Grrr do we have to read? I hate reading dattebayo!" Naruto roars, his reward is the white book upside his head.

"I'm pretty sure you'll find this book interesting; it is your 'Book of Life' after." Mr. Misfit says.

"So... This is my soul?" Naruto asks, eyes round and pure white.

"Yep, no take that to the Admin HQ to be briefed on your first mission." Mr. Misfit instructs, shocking Naruto senseless; it was almost like he was a shinobi!

"M-missions?! Y-you mean like rescuing princesses and bombing terrorist shinobi? Count me in dattebayo!" Naruto cheers with excitement, dashing to the HQ at break neck speeds! Once Naruto reaches the front doors, he is shocked when they open up automatically!

"Are you going to come in or just stand there looking stupid?" a female's voice calls out to him, snapping him out of his funk.

"Heh sorry about that. Uh my name is..."

"Uzumaki Naruto from Konohagakure. Age: 12, died: ten minutes ago, huh and they're already shipping you out?" the woman, clad in, white and lavender, yoga robes asks seeing Naruto's Book of Life.

"Heh heh I guess so, though no one has really explained what's going on it. I keep getting the feeling I'm being left out of a sick joke or something." Naruto says, it doesn't help when the yoga woman giggles.

"You could say that. Allow me to explain, please hand me your B.O.L" the yoga woman requests as Naruto reluctantly holds it out to her. The book literally floats from his hands and into hers.

Before Naruto's eyes, the book turns into a strange tome (manga) with his name on it and volume 1. Opening it to a page,

"When Mizuki tricked you into stealing the Fuuin no Sho, you were supposed to learn the Kage Bunshin, which would have set up the sequence of events that should have happened; it's all here." the yoga woman says, showing Naruto the varies volumes and events in his life. From becoming a genin with Sakura and Sasuke, to meeting their sensei Kakashi, and the to the Wave arc before she shuts the book. Naruto couldn't believe his eyes, it was literally like looking into a mirror and seeing your future.

"That's it, but there has to be more!" Naruto declares, wanting to know his life's story from beginning to end.

"There is, but it doesn't matter now. Because you used the Great Dimensional Migration, your soul left your human body; thus killing you, along with the Kyuubi. The only thing that matters now, is your mission." the yoga woman explains. Naruto couldn't help but chuckle darkly; figures all this started because of the damn Bunshin no jutsu... Well what could he do?

"So just what is this mission?" Naruto asks.

"I'm glad you asked, you will be sent back through various time lines and dimensions of your own dimension in order to prepare you for inter-dimensional travel and mass space manipulation; but that's for a later date. Your first mission is to participate in the Graduation Exam in Kirigakure. In order to do so, you will have to hide just about all your features, otherwise the DeathSlingers will try to reclaim your B.O.L I have just the look in mind." the yoga woman says, somehow, taking the Fuuin no Sho, unraveling it completely and then magically binds Naruto's entire body with the wrappings.

"I've included in your B.O.L. 'Mr. Misfit's Guide to Understanding the Basics of Seal Slinging, I advise you to read it on the trip there; it'll keep your mind off of things." the yoga woman says, opening a dimensional rift next to Naruto, who is too engrossed in his B.O.L to notice. Magically, kanji for words begin to appear on the page, as if a phantom is writing as he's reading. Good thing he wasn't paying attention, all around him is a swirling vortex of energy, shining colors no mortal has ever seen!

* * *

Whoaaa great chapter, great chapter! Man I don't care if this one doesn't get reviews; this is just my play thing. I enjoy getting all these 'failed' ideas out and in the open! Man oh and by the way, here's a sneak peek into what Naruto is reading for my viewers! (AN: I got this idea from Kenichi618 story where Jiraiya has a book. Now the idea came from there, but it's all original after that... I hope anyway, if not well I gave him props.)

-Greetings ghouls and gals, I hear you want to be a Seal Slinger. Haha, but seriously, not everyone is cut out for the awesome life style of the Slinger. You see, Seal Slinging is more than just some key to the Pandora's Box known as life; oh no. It is an art form, a philosophy and above all, it is insanity. If you're not insane by the time I finish the basics, well you were insane to begin with; congratulations!

Don't worry, being insane is good, it means I can corrupt that brain of yours with oodles of crazy knowledge; luck you! Now before we begin, a simple test is in order. A test that will be held next time on Naruto: Master of Space!


	3. Village of Blood and Tears

LS67: I guess you weren't shitting around when you said you'd kill him.

Naruto: I know, who tries to kill a child?!

Mr. Misfit: You wanted to be a shinobi, that means you're giving up your childhood for a life of blood and tears; I was just jump starting your career.

LS67: Well this story is just beginning and I'd like to shout out all my readers so far! Fallout5368, a fellow Invader Zim fan myself! Forgotten Kami, **If you think Masashi Kishimoto is ruining Naruto and agree, copy this, put it in your profile, and add your name to the list. **The Fifth Rider of Armageddon, Hiroshima Namikaze, Zaara the black, desuta, Reikson, D-reaper X-20, blackstardragon624, chinoodin, The Silver Blossom, RasenganFin, Raidentensho, Knives91, Kingkakashi, DarkSamuraiX1999, THE HEE-HO KING, Wirespeed91, Naruto 21, GraityTheWizard, GuyverZero, durwin, Hakkyou no Yami, VFSNAKE, Stormrunner56, Haru Kitsune, DragonMaster4381,Terror of the Azure Flame, RoyalTwinFang,TheDemonKingNaruto, dracohalo117, Forgottenkami, LightSeeker67! Kioras, you don't really have any info on yo, but thanks anyway man/woman! Meowpuppy, thanks for putting my story among your 2,002 other favorites! Ryperiour2 yeah thanks haha. Silight03 again no info but thanks! Turps2001 I don't know why, but like that name haha anyway thanks. XTBIGBOOM147 THANK YOOOU! And finally xXFisherXx thanks! Whoa and now on with what you all came here for!

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Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "..."_

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "…"**

Hand seals/kanji: Tori酉(Bird), I 亥(Boar), Inu 戌(Dog), Tatsu 辰(Dragon), Ushi 丑(Ox), Tora 寅(Tiger), Mi 巳(Snake), Ne 子(Rat), Uma 午(Horse), Saru 申(Monkey), U卯 (Hare), Hitsuji未 (Ram)

Naruto the Seal Slinger

Village of Blood and Tears

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"I can't believe it, I passed the test DATTEBAYO!" Naruto cheers merrily. For the first time in his entire life, he passed a written test, he couldn't believe it! The test was more like a test of heart and morale than mind and intelligence; which he had little of. When it came to heart and morale, the blonde had tons of it! Tallying up his score, Naruto finds he has 7 out of 10 points in total and looks at his point scale before reading it out loud.

"Ok, you're ready for the basics of Seal Slinging. You're not perfect, but no one is!" Naruto felt good hearing/reading that, it made him feel like he could really do this. He could master whatever this Seal Slinging was and be back in Konohagakure in no time!

Before he can read more, he exits out of the dimensional rift and sees nothing but a foggy swamp forest beneath him. It took a second, but it finally registered to him he was free falling, in the sky, down towards the swampy forest.

"Oh my KAAAAMI!" Naruto yells, felling gravity's pull affect him once more. The force of the winds were too much for him, preventing him from even making the 'Kage Bunshin' hand seal. With nothing to cushion his fall, the blonde crashes into thick tree limbs, his body bouncing off of them before bouncing off another in a painful landing. The only thing that spotted him from crashing into the hard ground below, were sheets from the Fuuin no Sho getting caught on some of the branches and forming a makeshift net.

To his shock, the Fuuin no Sho is so bound to his skin, that you'd think he was made of the scroll paper.

Before he can freak out, a green symbol (a sphere with two angelic wings, one flowing up and the other down.) shines on the center of his chest and projects a silhouette of the yoga woman.

"Don't worry, I wasn't going to send you here without some way to contact you; I'm not irresponsible. Anyway allow me to introduce myself. I am the Shamaness, president of the Destiny Institute for the Dangerously Insane and I will be your guide through the dimensions." the Shamaness explains. Only none of her words even register to the blonde, who can only stare in wonderment at the strange phenomenon before him.

"Wow are you a g-ghost?! Oh man that fall must have killed me! I don't want to die dattebayo!" Naruto screams in sheer terror, crouching into a ball and rocking back and forth. The Shamaness just sighs; didn't that boy listen at all?!

"How can you die, when you're already dead! Look, I've sent you back to your home dimension, but not during your time period." the Shamaness tries to explain, but the dry look from Naruto tells her she's wasting her time.

"Grr... Alright FINE! To put it simply, you died, but Mr. Misfit saved you from death and now you can live again, but only in times you weren't born! Did you understand that!?" the Shamaness asks, clearly irritated, but relies it in with a deep sigh; not everyone could comprehend the boy's situation.

"Ooooh now I get it! Wait, why can't I go back to my time period?" Naruto asks. The Shamaness didn't get upset, seeing as the blonde was young and new to the whole 'multidimensional' aspect.

"Because you died in that time period and the Death Slingers, that big spector thing, will be waiting for you there; you don't have enough experience to go back yet." the Shamaness explains, simple for even Naruto to follow. There were more of those Death Slinger things?!

"Wait, wait, whoa! How many of those Death Slingers are there?" Naruto asks, just wanting to know what he was dealing with.

"For every life, there is a Death Slinger; so an infinite amount. I doubt you could kill off all the Death Slingers, even if you spent a thousand years killing one every day, you'd still only scratch the surface." the Shamaness explains. Naruto pales hearing that; so he was pretty much up against an unstoppable force of nature; yep it was official, Murphy's Law made him its bitch.

"Why me?..." Naruto sighs, wishing he had never taken that stupid Fuuin no Sho, speaking of.

"What's with my body? It feels like I'm made of rice paper dattebayo." Naruto asks, trying to free his self from the net of rice paper.

"I had to bind the Fuuin no Sho with your very skin in order to hide your identity from the Death Slingers; think of it as a second skin. You have some of the knowledge stored in the Fuuin no Sho at your disposal, but nothing you can't handle. Not to mention an endless supply of paper for seals, or fuuinjutsu as it's called in your dimension. Did you get all of that?" the Shamaness asks, wanting to make sure the blonde knew enough to complete his mission.

"Basically I'm a Fuuin no Sho Miira (Scroll of Seals Mummy) that can poop out explosive tags (AN: the only fuuin Naruto knows currently)! Sounds pretty bad ass to me, though can't I reveal my hair at least, maybe my eyes too; I can barely see through the eye bindings." Naruto asks, finally freeing his self from by ripping the paper from the branches, only to fall flat on his face. Rubbing his sore face, the Shamaness can't help but giggle.

"I suppose, though I'm only revealing your eyes and a few spikes of your hair; trust me on this one." The Shamaness says and to her word, Naruto's azure eyes are revealed, along with a few spikes over his right eye.

"You have to drop the orange too." the Shamaness says, the green symbol shines so brightly, it literally burns the offensive clothes off of his body, much to his horror.

"NOOOOOO, not my jump suit! That was my only one too, no one makes that anymore! Now what am I supposed to wear?!" Naruto yells, wanting to cover his self; shouldn't he feel naked? "Leave it to me!" the Shamaness cheers, eyes turning into diamonds. The green symbol's shine consumes Naruto's body in its blinding light. Once it fades, Naruto is dressed in a long sleeved orange shirt with a black vest, with the Uzushiogakure (Village Hidden by Whirling Tides) crest on the back and shoulders, on top. On his right wrist is a band of red prayer beads and on his left arm is a sleeve of yellow orbs. With black cargo pants, with silver, metal, shin guards both underneath and on top of the pants' legs. To finish his outfit, he had white socks with duplex sandals.

"Well?" the Shamaness asks, wanting to know what the blonde youth thought of his new look?

"It's awesome dattebayo!" Naruto cheers, jumping in the air and loves how his clothes seem to glide in the wind. Moving around his a breeze in his new outfit, it wasn't too big or too small for him!

"Why thank you Naruto. I always pictured this look whenever I read about you." the Shamaness says, catching herself in a slip; she had forgotten she was talking to a patient!

"What do you mean read up on me?" Naruto asks, his curiosity intrigued.

"I said, I believe the closest settlement is a few miles away from here. I believe they have a ramen stand, pretty cheap too." the Shamaness says. Hook, line in sinker in 3...2...

"Well what are we waiting for?!" Naruto cheers, taking off in a random direction, not even knowing where he was going; just allowing his instincts to take him away!

"_Gets him every time, boy thank you __Masashi Kishimoto for making him pure of soul; and so blissfully half-witted. Poor Uzumaki."_

Too caught up in the thought of ramen, Naruto missteps and ends up knee in swamp water, body flailing to stay afloat. Feeling a disturbance in the water, enormous crocodilian reptiles wake from their slumber and crawl into the depths of the water. Underneath the water, Naruto is shocked to see the crocoilian reptiles turn into cloaked Croc spectors, with fangs like scythes!

"Make a boat out of rice paper, DOO IT!" the Shamaness demands to the panicking Naruto. The blonde has enough sense to obey and crafts a makeshift life raft out of his Fuuin no Sho Hiifu (Scroll of Seals Skin) and climbing on, just as the Crocs crunch the raft with their mighty jaws, easily tearing through it. The blonde swiftly adds more Sho Hifu to his raft, fixing and rewrapping the tears.

"Listen up because this is the only time I'm going to help you; I'm a busy woman. Croc Spectors use what is known as Crush death magic. In other words, their teeth with crush anything they touch. Their only weakness, is the Recoil, or rest period of five seconds before they can use it again. I shouldn't have to tell you fighting them underwater is suicide, so good luck Champ! And remember, Silence is Golden!" the Shamaness says, with that, the green symbol disappears from his chest. Suddenly, sky blue kanji appears across Naruto's mouth bindings; 沈黙は金 (Silence is golden)

Naruto mumbles curses, trying to speak, but the words are blocked by the mouth bindings. _"Crocs use... Crunch or Break or... CRAP!"_

One of the Crocs leap from the depths of the water and high into the sky, falling down, at an angle, on Naruto's boat; its jaw wide open. The blonde briefly sees a triangle, with two Xs going through it, inside the creature's gullet and black smoke, with red mist inside, pouring off it. The Croc crunches down, missing Naruto only because he had enough sense to move; the boat was not so lucky. It was ripped asunder, pieces of it flailing everywhere, _"Wait that's it!_ _I only have three seconds left!"_

Two, Naruto wills the shredded paper into a halo of rice paper around the Croc's closed maw. One, he visualizes 爆 (the kanji for Explode) and projects it on the halo bindings with chakra. A sky blue halo twirls around Naruto's neck and from his mouth bindings, a slip of paper types out巳 (snake). Forming the corresponding hand seal, as the last second passes, the Crocs mouth is destroyed in a fiery explosion! **"Looks like you can use that brain of yours after all Uzumaki." **Kyuubi says making his self known. The inner monogle starles Naruto, who had completely forgotten about the Bijuu sealed in his gut; the last time he saw him, he was barely conscious.

"_K-k-kyuubi no Y-yoko?" _Naruto asks mentally, hoping beyond hope it was just his imagination.

"**Who else would it be baka? Are all Uzumaki so dimly light, but now's not the time for a reunion. Since we are connected thanks to that damn fuuin, I pretty much know the situation. One of those Croc spectors is directly below us, charging in fast!"** Kyuubi warns, feeling the creature's ill intent. Not one to argue in times of stress, Naruto jumps off the raft and makes a lily pad out of Sho Miira, that he lands on and not a minute too soon. The raft is completely engulfed by the Croc's Crush D.M. (Death Magic),

"**Now's your chance, use the Fuuin no Sho Seihon (Scroll of Seals Bookbinding) to encase the thing in your binding cloth before five seconds are up!" **Kyuubi says, beginning the count down as soon as he finished his sentence. **4** Naruto unwinds the bindings around his hands. **3** He visualizes 製本 (Bookbinding) on the tips of the binds and hurls it at the Croc spector. **2** the bindings wrap around its maw and swiftly begins to wrap up the rest of the dark being. **1** the bindings completely encase the Croc as it falls on the water in a great splash and floats on its surface. The Croc struggles against the bindings, steadily causing tears in the material.

"**Don't just stand there, project Baku (explode) on it and finish this!" **Kyuubi roars inside Naruto's head. Out of sheer instinct, the blonde points to the Croc's chest as 爆 appears and detonates in a fiery explosion; completely consuming the specter. With the threats taken care of, Naruto sighs in relief, crafting a rower and begins to row himself along the swampy lake.

"**Now that we have time to talk, allow me to introduce myself. I am the Kyuubi no Yoko washi! Strongest among the Bijuu and you, mere mortal are my Jinchuuriki." **Kyuubi explains; the sooner the boy knew how their relationship works the better. Naruto was at a lose of words upon the shocking Revelation; it all made sense.

"_The reason the villagers ignored and glared at me, the reason why they called me Oni gaki; it's all because of you!" _Naruto roars at the great Kitsune mentally, forgetting his fear for a moment. The Kyuubi merely cackles at the blonde; as if it even cared!

"**Oh please, it's not like I wanted to be sealed inside of someone as pathetic as you! If it were up to me, I'd be traveling the lands, causing as much mayhem and destruction as I could! No one would tell me what to do, no babysitting little blonde Uzumakis or running from Death's Messengers! To think we have Death Slingers after us... I can't die because of your weakness!" **Kyuubi roars, not wanting to die because of the blonde baka.

"_Just shut up as far as I'm concerned, you're the reason why all this happened! You're the reason everyone hates me, your the reason Mizuki teme betrayed me and I ended up dead in the first place!"_ Naruto counters, not trusting the Kitsune one little bit. All it cared about was itself and any help he received from the beast would come at a terrible price; his sanity.

"**We don't have time for your pity grievances Uzumaki. This is a serious, life or death, situation. We aren't in Konoha, where that old saru can keep an eye on you. This is Kirigakure, Chigiri no sato (Village of the Bloody Mist)! They will kill you first and examine your body for answers. They breed oni here Kit and you are an Akachan Oni (Baby Oni); they'll eat you alive. It'd be funny if my life wasn't on the line."** the Kyuubi says, causing Naruto to tremble with fright. A thick mist settles in around him, completely shrouding everything in a storm of mist.

"**Shit, we're getting closer to the village... You don't have any identification, so coming up with a believable alias is our only chance of survival. If they think you're a threat, they'll kill you on sight. Stop rowing and sit full lotus, with your hands behind your head." **Kyuubi orders.

Reluctantly, Naruto does as he's told and simply waits for something to happen. The lily pad floats aimlessly in the swampy lake, the chirps of insects and the stench of death perfuming the area. Next thing he knows, his body is slammed into the water and held their, before he can even gasp, he is trapped inside the Suiroo no jutsu (Water Prison Technique).

"Unfriendly captured, can't make out any facial features for the Kao ninshiki no jutsu (Facial Recognition). Target's entire body seems to be wrapped in rice paper." a tall Kiri Oinin (Hunter nin), wearing a, slate gray, flak jacket, with a neck-guard and has elongated padding over the shoulders, bearing the village symbol on each padding. His face was hidden behind a white mask, with curved eye slits and a red whirlpool pattern in place of the mouth, but his bright red spiky hair was visible to all.

"Understood Mizukage sama, I'll bring him in... Alive." The Uzu Oinin (Whirlpool Hunter nin) says, popping the little bubble, that served as his link to the Kage. Through the mist, another bubble appears in front of the Uzu Oinin and pops out a message.

"Chimamire Uzu (Bloody Mess Whirlpool) sama, do you have the target?" Forming a bubble of his own, the Chimamire Uzu Oinin responds,

"Target captured, return to head quarters for briefing." with his message sent, the Uzu Oinin uses the Mizu Bunshin to form a solid clone of water, to keep the Suiroo no jutsu activate, and races through the mist effortlessly. To Naruto, the prison was strangely transparent enough to allow him to see, but when he slams his fist into its surface, it's harder than steel! Trying to see where he's being taken is useless; the murky mist shrouding the area in white.

"**Alright Uzumaki we need to get your alias down. You can't slip up or show any signs of deceit or I'm dead! I mean you'll die, but it'll kill me too. I would just possess you and save myself, but** **your pathetic body can't handle more than one tail! I can practically smell the Sanbi at work here; saturating the area in its Kiri youki (Mist Demonic Energy). The Kame (turtle) baka will know you're my Jinchuuriki and won't hesitate to kill us both!" **Kyuubi roars, showing a rare moment of fear.

"_What's the point you Fazubooru (Fuzz ball)? If this Sanbi is as bloodthristy as you say then we're screwed!" _Naruto yells mentally. There had to be some way out of this!

"**How dare you speak to me in such a tone mortal?! If not for this accursed fuuin I'd devour you in one gulp! Tsk, anyway the only way I'm going to survive is if you appease to this Yondaime Mizukage. You Uzumaki were a cursed lot, in fact I believe you're the last one. Kirigakure went out of their way to destroy your accursed clan due to their ability in fuuinjutsu; use that to our advantage. Alright, listen and listen well because this is the story you're sticking to until we leave this dump..." **Kyuubi says, making sure Naruto understood the gravity of the situation.

While Naruto conversed with his Bjiuu, Uzu Oinin examines him closely and sees the Uzushio crest. The mask hides any expression he makes, but he clearly was troubled by the blonde Jinchuuriki. After running through the mist for some time, it begins to lift once the Uzu Oinin reaches shore and reveals the, larger than life, gates of Kirigakure, a deep blue circular sign with the village crest in the center. Out of the thin mist, two guards appear in front of the gate.

"Caught another kekkei genkai user ay Uzu san? The Yondaime will be pleased." one of the guards, who has a crescent moon shaped scar on his bald head, chuckles.

"I would hope so, failure is not an opinion in Kirigakure." Uzu Oinin says darkly. Opening the massive village gates, Naruto is greeted by Kirigakure's exotic architecture of several cylindrical buildings, with the Mizukage's office being the widest and largest. Befitting its name, the village is surrounded by a thick mist, with several mountains in the background.

Each step they get closer to the Mizukage's office, the harder it is for Naruto to breath. Sure, he could transform into sexy blonde woman and make dopplegangers of himself, but to lie and claim another name just wasn't easy for him to do! He was Uzumaki Naruto and he should never have to hide that!

"**But you do have to hide that! Remember mortal, Death's Messengers are looking for Uzumaki Naruto. If you go around here with that name, I'll be killed in no time! Even though my alias is the best option, why don't you throw in the surname Uzumaki. Sure it's a terrible clan to hail from, but whatever gets you to go along with the plan." **Kyuubi says, just as Uzu Oinin reaches the Mizukage's Tower and enters. The Mizukage's office is in the center of a circular room with many corridors leading to many inner chambers. It consists of a simple desk with the Yondaime Mizukage behind it, examining the skull of a Yuki clansmen.

"_That's the Yondaime, he looks younger than me dattebayo!" _Naruto rages in his head at the young looking Mizukage.

"**Shows what you know. He is an adult with a young, child-like face and body structure. He's easily twenty eight judging by the smell."** Kyubbi says analyzing the Yondaime. The man has a head of messy, light-grey hair, pink pupiless eyes and what seems to be a stitch-like scar running from under his left eye, all the way down his cheek. He is small in stature and wears a grey, sleeveless shirt with the Kirigakure Hitai' ate (Forehead Protector) attached to the front, short-sleeved mesh armour over which he also wears a green poncho along with a turquoise sash around his waist, paired with a green apron over his pants. He wears a pair of brown boots, and on his back he carries a staff-like pole weapon with uneven sized hooks with a green flower on the larger end.

"Ah so this is wandering soul that was in my swamp; why he looks far too young to be a spy. Well done bringing him to me, Uzu, I'll need your help to learn more about this peculiar boy." the Yondaime, Yagura, says with a warm smile. The red head Oinin bows and waits in one of the corners out of sight. Releasing Naruto from the Suiroo no jutsu, the blonde has hope things will go smoother than the Kyuubi thought. Before his hopes get too high, 固定化 (Immobilization) appears beneath him as whips of water tie his feet together, his knees together and his thighs together. Then ties his hands behind his back, several times; making bands of water from his wrists to elbows.

"**Here it comes..."** Kyuubi says, causing Naruto to panic!

"**No you baka don't panic, that just makes it worse!"** Kyuubi roars, only causing the blonde more fright. Before he can even hit the floor, the Uzu Oinin appears next to him with a huge gourd with 補充し(Replenish) on it. Once he slams into the ground, the water whips pin him to the ground just as the Uzu Oinin pours water on the blonde's face.

"What is your name?" Yagura asks, while poor Naruto is drowned, body flailing around in a futile attempt to free himself. To the blonde Jinchuuriki, the water boarding seemed to go on forever; he couldn't think of anything but surviving! After a some time of drowning him, the Uzu Oinin stops the torture and allows the blonde to catch his breath.

"M...*gasp* My n*cough* name is... *gasp* Uz-Uzumaki Oni... Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko..." Naruto gasps out, following the Kyuubi's orders to the letter. He may not have understood it, but he'd do anything to never experience that torture again. To say Yagura and Uzu Oinin were shocked was an understatement, though the Uzu Oinin had the worse reaction. Slamming the blonde's head into the ground, causing blood to gush out on the floor.

"Well maybe I should see for myself, just because you bare the clan crest doesn't make you an  
Uzumaki." the Uzu Oinin says, pulling out a scalpel to remove the clothe around his face.

"I-I have proof! Check my navel." a note from Oni's mouth says.

(I'll refer to this alias throughout Naruto's stay in Kirigakure. Also, think of his speech as nonverbal, words will be written on a stripe of paper and the person will read it a loud to avoid confusion. So when I say Oni said, visual that.), the Sho Hifu around his navel unraveling to reveal the Hakke no Fuuin Shiki (Eight-Trigram Sealing Style).

Yagura could practically see the Kyuubi's youki leak out of the ingenious fuuin. Taking a look at the fuuin, the Uzu Oinin couldn't deny it was the work of either an Uzumaki, or someone familiar with the clan's arts.

"A double layered Shishoo Fūin (Four Symbols Seal) to form a Hakke no Fuuin... Truly the work of an Uzumaki." The Uzu Oinin says, waiting for Yagura's orders. The Yondaime leers at Naruto, feeling his own Bijuu shy away from the blonde Jinchuuriki.

"It was my belief that the Uzumaki had blood red hair Uzu, from what I can see, the boy has blonde hair." Yagura says, trying to decide what he should do. On one hand, he could kill the boy and be done with it. **But we need the Kyuubi to complete the plan...**

"I don't remember too many details, it all happened when I was born. All I know, is my otuosan had red spiky hair and my kaasan had long blonde hair." Oni says. According to the Kyuubi, they were in a time line where his parents would still be alive and he wasn't even thought of; so a little mix and match would go a long way.

"The kid just described fifty five percent of the what the men looked like; without a name there's no way to find out who his parents are. Still seeing as you have this seal, I can only assume Mito sama has passed on." Uzu Oinin says; for all he knew, the boy was his musuko. Had he ever slept with a long haired blonde?... Nah, he'd definitely remember something so exotic.

"Still, this could work to our advantage. Two Jinchuuriki with twelve tails of power between the two of us; Kirigakure will finally become the nation it was meant to be. Enter this, Uzumaki Oni, into our Shinobi Academy, how old are you gaki?" Yagura asks. The Uzu Oinin lifts Oni to his feet and holds him steady, having his bowed to the Yondaime.

"I am eight years old... Yondaime sama..." Oni says, finding it difficult to call the man/boy before him a true Kage. Hat man bullies a kid?

"Explain the bindings you wear." the Yondaime commands.

"After the Kyuubi was sealed inside of me, it tried to overload my tenketsu with its youki. In order to keep my very skin from peeling off, my body was bound with sealing paper, the three Uzumaki crests serve as the lids to keep not only the Kyuubi's youki under check, but also keeps my skin attached to my body." Oni explains, repeating what he and Kyuubi went over on the way there.

"What will the Uzumaki think of next? What do you call this special skin of yours?" Yagura asks, more than curious about the capabilities of the young blonde.

"Fuuin no Sho Hifu (Scroll of Seals Skin), Yondaime sama. I don't know what all I can do, but I do know I can turn my limbs into fuuin tags." Oni explains; hey there was something to this whole deceit thing after all! He found it amazing how easy it was to lie and for people to actually believe him; though with clothe over your face, it's harder to tell facial expression. Not to mention, the Kyuubi subconsciously kept his body language masked.

"Fuuin no Sho Hifu ay? I suppose it's more of a medical jutsu than a kekkei genkai. Uzu, make sure our new recruit is taken care of. Welcome to Chigiri no sato (Village Hidden in the Bloody Mist) Oni; I hope you'll fit right in." Yaguri says, the same cold smile etched on his face. With his orders given, Uzu Oinin bows and grabs Naruto before they both disappear in a splash of water. Once the spacious office is clear of all intruders, a tower high shadow looms over Yaguri, whose eyes glaze over in an empty stare. The shadow has long spiky hair and red eyes...

**With Uzu Oinin and Oni...**

The two spiky haired males appear inside a damp cave deep underground. The only lights where torches hung leading deeper into the cave. The Uzu Oinin throws the blonde youth into a, single space, barred cell and etches ロック(Lock) on the door.

"Welcome to the Kirigakure prison system. Your name is beginning registered in our system as you being a nuke nin." Uzu Oinin explains, the look of shock is evident even on Oni's face!

"If you want your freedom and your name cleared, you had better earn it; don't waste the opportunity Yondaime sama has presented to you Uzumaki gaki." the Uzu Oinin says before disappearing in a splash of water. With the caster of the water restraints gone, the water binds dissolve and free him. The blonde wants to scream to be let out and that he was being framed, but the clothe bindings sealed his voice and only typed out notes, that no one would or could read...

"**Hahaha how's it feel Uzumaki? To be trapped in a cage against your will? Yeah let's see you try being locked up for three whole GENERATIONS! I've been sealed inside your accursed clan for three lifetimes and considering your damn clan's longevity, that's almost six generations!"** Kyuubi roars, both in anger and laughter. His jailer was in jail, oh irony, you sweet bitch!

"_Well maybe if you didn't go around stepping on people with each step, people wouldn't need to lock you up!" _Oni countered. After all, the only reason the beast was sealed inside him was because it attacked Konoha, right?

"**Tsk you mortals bring it on yourselves! It's pretty hard for a washi such as myself to just 'blend in'. I tend to stand out no matter where I go and if there's one thing you mortals are good at is fear. Your fear makes you paranoid, which makes you angry, which makes you spiteful. No matter where I go, mortals always challenge me, want to control me! As if I could be controlled so easily..." **Kyuubi growls, before cutting its link with the blonde. As much as he hated to admit it, the Kyuubi made sense. I mean if Oni were a creature easily the size of a mountain, practically everyone would be fighting over him or against him.

"_Gah, I don't have time for moping. They want Uzumaki Oni Naruto to show out, I'll show out dattebayo!"_Oni says mentally, that all too familiar gleam burns in his eyes, like an azure flame! Since there wasn't enough room to do some physical exercises, he decides to sit down and do the one thing he hated more than the two minutes it took to make, supposedly, instant ramen; FOCUS! _"AHHHHHHHHHH WHY KAMI WHY?!"_

**Meanwhile, in Konohagakure (Naruto's time line)...**

It is a dark, gloomy day in Konohagakure, one of the darkest they had ever seen. The sun the village is known for having plenty of, is shrouded by the gathering of black thunderclouds, that roar in supposed anger. Heavy rain, uncommon for the village, pours down on the village, ruining a once cheerful day. It was the day of one Uzumaki Naruto's funeral and the event practically splits the village in half. On one side, we had the many civilians, and some shinobi, who were glad the hyperactive blonde was dead; it just proved he was a failure. Then there was the other, much smaller, side, who consisted of: the devastated Sandaime, an irate Jairaiya, a rue struck Kakashi, the sorrowful Ichirakus, Iruka, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Hinata, Anko, Kurenai, and even Uzuki Yuuago. If Naruto could see how many people he touched in his short life, he would have been happy to know he had made so many precious people.

It was decided by the Sandaime himself, that everyone attend the blonde's funeral; going so far as to call Martial Law on all citizens no matter what rank. Everyone had white and orange umbrellas in honor of Naruto.

"We have come here today to pay respects to a young boy, whose Will of Fire was extinguished before its time..." the Sandaime says, his voice echoing over the falling rain. To the old Hokage, the rain represented Minato and Kushina's bitter tears that washed over the village. To think this is how the village repaid the young couple's sacrifice, their muskuo's sacrifice.

"His name was Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, son of Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage and Uzumaki Kushina. On the day of the Kyuubi's attack, the great Bijuu was manipulated by the being known to control it in the past, an Uchiha. In order to save the village and keep the Kyuubi out of the Uchiha's grasp, the Yondaime sealed it inside his own son, in order to protect us." the Sandaime says, telling them the truth that had been denied to them for so long. Loud gasps echoed throughout the audience, the truth of their actions and behavior coming to light. The very boy they scorned, was the son of the man that gave his life for them. One that day, every citizen, young and old alike, wept heavily.

"We can never take back all the horrors that befell an innocent. We have disgraced the Yondaime and taken away his very legacy. We have done Iwagakure the ultimate favor and completely wiped out the last trace of him. All we can do is move forward down the right path; the path to forgiveness and never forget young Naruto." the Sandaime says through his own tears. Though he didn't do anything to the blonde, it was his job to protect him from the hate and he failed. He failed to see Naruto grow and one day take his hat. Jairaiya had failed even more than the Sandaime. It was his job as his Godfather to take care of Naruto; he should have been there! He should have taken Naruto with him the moment after the sealing. That day, would mark the beginning of Namidagakure (Village Hidden in Tears)...

**Back with Oni...**

The, once, hyperactive blonde ws actually enjoying the quiet cold of his cell. His bindings kept him nice and warm and for once, he actually had a lot to sit and think about. What would he do next, when would this be over and how would he escape? So many thoughts ran through the young blonde's mind, but he had to stay focused! Going through the archives of the Fuuin no Sho, Oni sees チャクラの糸 (Chakra Threads) and 超獣偽画(Super Beast Imitating Drawing) before his spazzes out, "Dattebayo!" The blonde scratches his head in frustration. A burst of knowledge spills from the kanji and imprints Oni with each jutsus: hand seals, strength, weakness, etc, but there was a problem.

"_I never learned all the hand seals..."_ Oni admits to himself, a roar a laughter reminds him he's not truly alone.

"**Oh this is just swell, good thing fuuinjutsu doesn't need hand seals. Try writing the kanji Uzumaki."** Kyuubi groans, why was he stuck with a baka?

Several tick marks bulge from Oni's head, it wasn't his fault Iruka's lectures were boring! Ignoring the shrewd Kistune, Oni rips a stripe of his Sho Hifu off and crafts 墨 (Ink) on it; producing a Shumi (Ink) tag. Crafting a pen, Oni tries to think of the kanji for the hand seals.

"_Let's see... They're based off some Vodiac or whatever. It has animals in it... Like a... Bird, a pig, a dog, oh and a cat; gotta have those. A sea horse, a cow, a lion, a snake, a mouse, a pony, an ape, a bunny, and a goat! Yeah that's right now I remember dattebayo!" _Oni cheers mentally, getting to work writing the kanji for each of his version of the hand seals. After his first try, it's clear his calligraphy is appalling, but he never gives up! Minutes, become hours as the sun begins to set and darkness fills the cell. The only source of light were the torches hanging in the corridor. It took longer than he would have liked, but he did it! He wrote the kanji with only a few mistakes here or there, but it was eligible.

Tori酉(Bird), Buta豚 (Pig), Inu, 戌(Dog), Neko 猫(Cat), Shiihoosu シーホース(Seahorse), Shishi 獅子(Lion), Mi 巳(Snake). Mausu マウス(Mouse), Kouma 子馬(Pony), Eipu エイプ(Ape), Banii バニーYagi ヤギ(Goat)

"**I guess it's a start... Let's start things off with the Chakra no Ito (Chakra thread). According to the Fuuin no Sho, it is a technique, normally used by puppeteers to control their puppets in battle. Basically you're making a lone out of focused chakra, in order to control it like a puppet, got it?" **Kyuubi asks, hating to have to dumb things down for the kid. Oni nods in the positive, rips of slip of Hifu off and writes the hand seals spiraling around the jutsu.

Tori酉(Bird), 獅子(Lion), Neko 猫(Cat)! "チャクラの糸 (Chakra Threads)!" from the slip of paper, wavy lines seep out like sky blue sea weed.

"**Ok the point is to make straight lines baka! Grah your calligraphy on this jutsu needs work, much more work! Wait, someone's coming quickly hide your work!" **Kyuubi commands, sensing a familiar presence; it was the guard from the gate. Oni swiftly wrapped the slips of paper back to his body; feeling weird when the kanji sliver along his body into the center of his forehead.

"Let's go gaki, you've been cleared. Sorry about the whole, Kekkei genkai thing. I had no idea that's a life support medical jutsu. The names Biggu Meiwaku and I'll be sure to spread the word so you don't have no trouble; welcome to Kirigakure." Meiwaku apologizes, removing the seal on the door and opening it. Oni was surprised by the complete 180 the guy's attitude took, but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Walking outside the cell, Oni follows the guard outside the underground facility, but not before taking a last look at his cell. Though he wasn't in it for that long, the feeling of being boxed in loomed in his mind.

"_To think the Kyuubi suffered that for three generations... I wonder..."_ Oni ponders, before he pays attention to the talking guard.

"Yondaime sama has given you a golden opportunity! He has set you up with your own, cone on cylinder, hut and enrolled you in our exclusive Shinobi Academy; aren't you lucky." Meiwaku raves on; everyone sure did seem to put this Jinchuuriki Kage in high regards. Oni started to wonder, if the civilians of Konoha would ever put him in such high regards... Just one more reason to get back.

Oni allowed the guard to go on and on about how the Yondaime was leading Kirigakure down the path of power and recognition and he was glad the guy thought his mouth was burned off; because the words that typed out of his mouth and swiftly balled up would have made a sailor cry. Before the blonde could go insane, they reach his grey, brick, hut and thanks Kami Meiwaku leaves in a splash of water.

"_Note to self: Learn what that jutsu is and how I can fuuin it." _Oni says to himself, before he walks into his hut. There wasn't much to the small space; just a bed of straw and a stone box with 守る(Preserve) on it. With a tired sigh, Oni flops on the bed and stares at the ceiling. Maybe if he closed his eyes, he'd wake up back in Konoha... Yeah wouldn't that be something?...

* * *

Whoa! And done man that was a tough chapter to write, but man was it fun! Man I'm exhuasted... I know I was supposed to continue the test from Mr. Misfit's Understanding the Basics of Seal Slinging, but I'm too tired, I just want to get this chapter updated NOW! So enjoy ghouls and gals!


	4. Blood, Sweat, and Tears

LS67: Hello All I'm back with another chapter! To show how happy I am people are reading this, I'm going to post another edition of Understanding the Basics of Seal Sealing by Mr. Misfit in this author note and even more in the final author note! Without further ado! (AN: Naruto's answers in bold.)

**Continued** "A test in a book, what am I, in school?" if that's your attitude, close this tome; you'll only hurt yourself going any further. No Ebonics in this either (HOPEFUULY no grammar errors and misspelling.) Now if you're like me, you loathe math, so I'll keep it simple: Ten questions, one point for each correct. Easy no, you're welcome!

1)You see a person down on their lock, on the streets, who asks for some change. You have just enough money to catch the bus, nothing more. What do you do?

**A) Look around to see if you can find some change on the ground; anything will do.**

B) Tell them you only have enough to get home and feel bad you weren't able to help.

C) Try your best to become invisible, steadily moving away from the bum until the bus comes and run inside.

D) You have a car, why would you need to take a bus?

a. +1 (You're a thoughtful and kind person. I would give you 2 points, but that would throw off the chart. Besides, what if the "Down on his luck" person is really an agent from some shadow government assassin You never know.)

b. +1 (You still get the point. Times are tough and if you help out, then you're stuck without a ride. There's helping the needy and becoming the needy; you understand that harsh lesson.)

c. 0 (You give nothing, you get nothing you little worm. They're a person, not some beast. You're probably a coward or mentally, physically and spiritually weak. Harsh, but true now that you know, do something about it. No need to continue being so, change starts immediately. Besides, what would the ladies/fellas think? Who cares, this is for you not them!)

d. -1 ( You're missing the point! Geez I can't believe you picked this; even if you have a car and never take the bus. It's hypothetical butt munch, or just pretend to test your character. Obviously you're shallow, like an empty bird bath, go get a spray tan or something! You are obviously not hero material.)

2) What would you do with Seal Slinging?

A) I'd use it for good, never benefiting from it. I'd keep it a secret from everyone and save the world.

**B) I'd use it to better understand myself. I'd benefit from it, but only for like odd jobs (magic shows, drawing, all the artsy stuff.) I'd most likely show it off to my friends and try to teach it to only my most trusted friends and family; may be others.**

C) I'd destroy stuff, but only stuff no one wants and I'd make sure people aren't around. I'd use it for survival, if anyone has a problem, well do you think you could live without a limb or two?

D) Two words: WORLD DOMINATION!

a. 0 (Ha good luck with that Superman/woman! This is a real big world, with a lot of sick mofos, evil pricks and emo princes of darkness. Not to mention, keeping seal slinging secret is like an artist not showing his art, or a musician not playing music. It demands the spot light!)

b. +1 (You are a wise, developing individual. You understand that learning anything must be a quest to understand your own mental growth and limits. I caution you to teach to only those that can pass this test, your future just got brighter.

c. +1 (You are dangerous, welcome kindred spirit! A portion of Seal Slinging is heavily centered on survival, you'll do wonderfully. Still, try to calm down a tad, because no matter how careful we are, not everyone can handle our awesome!

d. Put this down NOW!

3) How is your penmanship? Can you draw basic shapes (in 2 dimensional, or flat, and 3 dimensional, or with depth?)

A) I have eligible handwriting, some would call it fancy and I've always loved drawing, so yes I can.

**B) Eh people can read what I write. 2 D means flat, so duh I can draw a square. Anybody can do that, 3D is another story...**

C)Uh... Is it bad I'm taking a few class on calligraphy and am into anatomy books?

D) You mean I have to write and draw? This is too much, just too much!

a. +1 (You're one of the few who will probably excel in Seal Slinging, at least when it comes to the artistic aspect of the Sealing Arts. I hope you can learn to love even your failures; there will be many, many of those.)

b. 0 (Well at least you have the basics to stand on, just try to build on that. Pick up some related books, do research; or just practice until your hands fall off. This is the information age; no excuses.

c. +1 (No, actually you have just the right idea for the Sealing Arts! You will be learning how to think critically, deepening your thoughts and most of important: RESEARCH! It is your greatest ally.)

d. -1 (Wow I wasn't going to have a negative point scale, but you went and chose this answer... What is wrong with you? What did art ever do to you? Leave art alone!

4) From a scale of 1 to 10, how awesome are you?

A) 1 to 2

B) 3 to 4

C) 5 to 6

**D) 7 to 8 **

E) 9 to 10

a. 0 (Come on, I'm sure you're not THAT BAD! Even people I personally despise aren't this low and I don't even know you. I'm sure you're better than THIS, cheer up and smile; I'm smiling for you!

b. 0 (You're not confident are you? That's right, not everyone is. There were times I wasn't too, but I kicked my insecurities in the balls and stood over it triumph! I am COURAGE HEAR ME ROAR!)

c. 0 (Well you're in the 'Eh stage.' You're almost there! You're between good and bad, all you need is a little push!)

d. +1 (Alright, no matter what others think, you know you're awesome, but you're not arrogant about it. You know your limits and constantly try to go beyond it!)

e. 0 (You're full of yourself. Now a nine I can give a +1, if you can back it up. Ten is impossible, no one is perfect, so calm that down good sir/madam.)

5) Someone, you trusted dearly, betrays you. What do you do?

A) Feel hurt and even though I want to make them pay, I will move on. Making sure to never trust them, the same way, again. Karma will work itself out.

B) I'd give them a piece of my mind, letting them know, in explicit detail, how their betrayal made me feel and then leave; always lamenting them.

C) I'd tell em to f**k off and good luck finding anyone remotely as awesome as I am.

**D) I'd cry and get over it, what's life without friends?**

a. +1 (You're a wise person, it took me years to find that answer. It shouldn't be about getting back your ego, which is bruised in this situation, it should be about evolving beyond this and learning what to do and not to do.)

b. 0 (Hanging onto that anger, that hurt, will only spell trouble for you in the present and future. Get it out and move on, grudges only cause pain. Let's say they do what you want, how will you feel? Once you have your revenge, what will you have; Blood and pain.)

c. +1 (Okay, this is acceptable. It's getting the hurt and anger out and moving on all in one. At the same

d. -1 (You don't need a friend who betrays you. I'm all for forgiving and moving on, but they must be held accountable! Some time must pass and they must undergo true personal growth, before trust can even be considered.) To be continued...

LS67: Whoa don't worry, the test will be officially done by the end of this chapter. I just hope the preview got you pumped for N:MoS! Oh and shout out to my newest fans: Araso Tome, dude I agree with rant items# 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7! So glad to have such a long time Fanfic user checking my story out! Flameus, keep on rockin! KaefiDetour, all the way from Australia! See how fanfic brings people together? MadaraRennigan, thank you especially for the review; it's nice to know someone likes my writing style. And finally Spider-Fox93 thank you all and now without further ado.

* * *

Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "…"_

_**Spirit speech "..." **_

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "…"**

Hand seals/kanji: Tori酉(Bird), I 亥(Boar), Inu 戌(Dog), Tatsu 辰(Dragon), Ushi 丑(Ox), Tora 寅(Tiger), Mi 巳(Snake), Ne 子(Rat), Uma 午(Horse), Saru 申(Monkey), U卯 (Hare), Hitsuji未 (Ram)

* * *

Naruto the Seal Slinger

Blood, Sweat and Tears

Naruto wakes up, realizing he is once again in the cold, dreary Hengoku (Limbo). The Fuuin no Sho Hifu (Scroll of Seals Skin) removed, revealing his peachy skin and blonde, spiky, locks. (Naruto will only be known as Oni when the Fuuin no Sho Hifu is active.) Before he can even ponder why he was there, a lanky specter creeps from the abyss, its nails gleam with Death magic. Upon seeing the blonde, the horrid creature howls in envy, slinking its way towards him.

"_This is just a dream, this is just a dream..." _Naruto chants to himself over and over; trying to wake himself from this frightmare!

"**This isn't a dream Baka! What part of you're dead don't you understand? There is no sleep for us, the moment we enter the Subconscious Realm... Ugh the minute we go to sleep, Death's Messengers will find us and once we're in Dream Realm, we can't escape until we defeat this thing!"** Kyuubi roars, causing Naruto's eyes to go all white and bugle out!

"_You wait until now to drop this on me?! That's something I think would have better off knowing sooner!" _Naruto roars, ducking under the lanky specter's claw swipe, following up with another swipe from its other claw; body bending at impossible angles to do so. Not moving fast enough, the blonde is pierced in the leg by the claws, the Death magic seeps into his body. Inside his mindscape, the Kyuubi could feel the black flames of Death burn his body to a crisp. Roaring in agony, the Kyuubi unleashes waves of its youki in order to fend off the offensive substance.

Meanwhile, Naruto leaps away from the creature, whole, left, leg completely numb. He could feel the magic in his leg robbing it of heat, like frostbite. Before it could completely consume his leg, a burst of red youki forces the black, oozy, substance out.

"**You're welcome, that shit would have killed you if not for me!"** Kyuubi snickers, but there's no time for jokes. The lanky specter slinks through the darkness towards Naruto at alarming speeds, throwing a double claw swipes like a buzz saw.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Naruto chants, conjuring two Kage Bunshin, that launches him over the buzz sawing lanky specter, who cuts through the Kage Bunshin effortlessly. Seemingly not at all surprised by his tactic, the lanky specter twists its body, in a knotting fashion, and aims another swipe at his chest, but the blonde projects another Kage Bunshin to take the blow for him.

"_Dammit Kyuubi, don't you have some super awesome jutsu to finish this thing?!" _Naruto asks, the only thing he could currently use was the Kage Bunshin and baku tags.

Only this thing was way too fast and slim to plant a tag on him; not to mention it moved like a freakin hebi!

"**Don't look at me Uzumaki, I don't have all the answers. My jutsu are too much for you anyway; you can't handle them at your current level."** Kyuubi snickers; if only his life weren't on the line. Before Naruto can ever yell mentally at the great Bijuu, the lanky specter appears in front of him, claws racking for the boy's boy, too quickly to kawarimi with a Kage Bunshin. Thinking swiftly, he ducks under the swipe, but the lanky specter is ready and uses the momentum to swing its body around and back hands Naruto in the face, sending him flying! Not wanting to give the boy any time to rest, the lanky specter races towards the blonde, its claws barred out ready to impale him in the chest.

Just when Naruto thought this was it, 鎖 (Chain) appears on his forehead, chains race out and ensnare the specter's wrists.

"**Tsk it's about time you showed yourself, Kushina Uzumaki!"** Kyuubi snarls. From Naruto's forehead, an arm of fair skin grabs a hold of the chains, before another arm comes out and begins to pull on them. Eventually, an entire body climbs out out the blonde's head, revealing Kushina once again, in her hand, is a red notebook.

"Well someone has to help my musuko, obviously you won't Kyuubi baka." Kushina says, standing tall over her pride and joy, feeling unbelievable joy at seeing her son again in person; well sort of. Gripping her chains, the red head twirls the specter around the abyss before giving it a mighty toss screaming 'Dattebane!'

"Alright my Naruto kun, I wish we had time to catch up, but we don't have the time. Here in the Dream Realm, I can freely help you, without it draining what little chakra I have sealed within you; which is great because I've been reading this book by that Mr. Misfit and I have to give him credit. The man knows his fuuin." Kushina says, eyes buried in the book, looking for a way to defeat the specter. Naruto couldn't believe it, it was like his kaasan never left! Tears easily fall down his face, tears...

"Dattebane, that's it!" Kushina yells in excitement, seeing just the fuuin to end this nightmare. Summoning the Fuuin no Sho, she opens it to a blank section and collects some tears and sweat from Naruto, confusing him greatly.

"Kaasan, what are you doing?" Naruto asks, his joy finally fading to the reality of the situation. Kushina applies the sweat and tears to the scroll, 汗 (Sweat) and 涙 (Tears). The specter struggles against the chains, trying to worm and twists its way out, but the chains hold steady.

"In order to complete this fuuin, I'm going to need some blood." Kushina says to herself mostly, but Naruto looks over her shoulder, examining the complex fuuin formula and arrays his kaasan was making.

"I'd gladly help, but I don't think spirits have blood..." Naruto says. Kushina smiles and rubs her musuko's head affectionately.

"Looks like you inherited all of my personality; something I specifically wanted you to avoid. That's alright though, I mean you acquired so much from Minato kun, I suppose you had to get something from me. Back to business, turns out, the Fuuin no Sho has all the blood we could ever need! Apparently, back when it was first made, the only way to record a jutsu in it was to sign said jutsu in blood, so all I have to do is summon that blood from within it." Kushina explains. She WAS an Uzumaki and even if she was never any good at ninjutsu, she was an expert in fuuinjutsu. She always had a knack for fuuin, even foreign fuuin. Applying chakra to the Sho, 血 (blood) appears in bloody kanji.

"Alright Naruto, I know you haven't practiced the Choojuu Giga (Super Beast Imitating Drawing) much, but it's the only way to defeat this guy! I need you to use it on this fuuin by applying your chakra into the fuuin and I'll handle the rest, what do ya say?" Kushina asks with a smile. She knew her musuko could do it, he was her musuko after all; the Uzumaki learn by doing!

"I say dattebayo!" Naruto proclaims with unbeatable determination. Focusing as much chakra as he can into his hands, the blonde hovers his hands over the scroll and apply his chakra to the fuuin. Kushina smiles brightly and begins to shape the fuuin just as it looked in the book she read. 血, 汗, and 涙 (Blood, sweat and tears) are drawn in a triangle form, along with a negatively curved triangle (meaning the arcs curve more towards the triangle's center.) in their center.

"Choojuu Giga!" Naruto roars, watching in amazement how the kanji and triangle begin to lift off the page and grow to life size! The kanji morph into three triangular blades, made from their corresponding kanji.

"Dimensional Seal: Fragment!" Kushina roars, before Naruto tosses the makeshift shuriken at the restrained specter, who wiggles its body to move out of its path.

"Naruto kun, the Dimensional Seal: Fragment is controlled by your will, it will follow where ever you want it to go." Kushina instructs, both kaasan and otuosan both flash a foxy grin as chakra pours from his hand and he guides Fragment back at the rushing specter. Before it can even lay a fingered claw on Kushina, the Fragment impales it and is sealed inside its body. The specter freezes in place, seemingly struck with the realization of its situation. Moments later, its body begins to chip away into square fragments that fade into the darkness.

"DATTEBAYO!" Naruto cheers, all his kaasan can do is sigh; he even picked up her verbal tic. Next thing she knows, Naruto embraces her deeply, seemingly melting into the hug. Kushina is shocked at her musuko's actions, a part of her still held onto the belief he might hate her. Tears stream her face as she embraces her son and they both enjoy the feeling of connection, perhaps for the first time.

"I have so much to ask!" Naruto says, wanting to unload all of his questions, his insecurities onto his kaasan.

"I'm sure you do Naruto kun, but now isn't the time. Like the Kyuubi said, the longer you stay in Hengoku, the more of Death's Messengers will come; we need to get out of here. Don't worry, so long as my chakra remains with you, I will always be with you Naruto kun." Kushina says with a warm smile and kisses her musuko on the forehead to renew the 鎖 (Chain) fuuin on his head.

"B-but how will I get in contact with you? How long will your chakra be inside me?" Naruto asks in a panic, seeing his kaasan fade away and is replaced by a tower of light.

"Simply focus on the 鎖 on your forehead musuko. My chakra will last as long as it's needed, don't worry so much Naruto kun. Kaasan will always be with you, Dattebane!" Kushina cheers, thanking Kami her musuko couldn't see her blush.

**Back in Kirigakure...**

Oni smiles and leaves Hengoku via the light. Opening his eyes, the blonde is relived to see his newest, dreary, abode. He makes a straw angel out of his makeshift bed before getting to his feet and looking out the single window. To his ire, the moon was still up, illuminating Kirigakure in a shroud of darkness, that is only thickened by the mist.

"_What should I do? I can't go to sleep, so what else do I do with my night time?"_ Oni asks himself, subconsciously foucing on the fuuin on his brow.

"_**This is the perfect time for you to be training Naruto kun. I don't know the full situation, due to my chakra being dominant for the past few years, but now that its active I can spend all my time getting to know my musuko! In the mean time, why not practice the Choojuu Giga?"**_ Kushina says, surprising Oni for a second, but hearing his kaasan's voice puts a smile on his face; he finally felt loved and connected to his kaasan.

"_You got it kaasan, I'm going to master the Choojuu Giga in no time! Then I'll work on Chakra no Ito (Chakra Threads) and then maybe you'll teach me the Chakra no Kusari (Chakra chains), those are sooo awesome!"_ Oni says mentally. Kushina can't help but giggle at her musuko.

"_**I don't know Naruto kun, the Chakra no Kusari is unique only to me. It's not a jutsu that can be learned, you have to be born with it."**_ Kushina explains, but the blonde isn't swayed.

"_Well I AM your musuko, which means if it was unique to you, maybe it got passed down to me!"_ Oni explains, for once, showing signs of his otuosan's genius.

"_**I suppose you have a point. I guess I can try to teach you the Chakra no Kusari. It is an Uzumaki jutsu in a sense, so maybe you can learn it. Anyway, that won't happen until you master four jutsu out of the Fuuin no Sho and the Kage Bunshin doesn't count! By the way, you're familiar with the Kage Bunshin's training applications right?" **_Kushina asks. Upon getting silence, the red head sighs; typical Uzumaki.

"_**Naruto kun, as your kaasan, I'm going to be upfront with you. You cannot keep acting like a baka, you won't last long. Anyway, the point is to be well informed. NEVER use a jutsu until you have a complete and thorough understanding of said jutsu." **_Kushina instructs and with that, leaves to search through her musuko's memories. She had a lot of questions, like how her musuko ended up in Hengoku!

With his kaasan's advice fresh in his head, Oni unravels a large strip of Sho Hifu and begins to practice the jutsu, trying to draw various creatures. His first attempt is a bunny, which when projected looked like a mass of scribbles! Remembering what his kaasan says, the blonde makes several groups (20 clones in total) of Kage Bunshin and has them all unravel Sho Hifu from their bodies and begin to practice the same jutsu he was. Minutes turn into hours, the moon began its dance across the sky as Oni and his Kage Bunshin try to create a solid, animal and fail miserably! It was early dawn, though you could barely tell due to all the mist; at least the sun's light could still be seen somewhat.

"Man screw this!" one of the Kage Bunshin roars, deciding to just write the kanji instead of drawing the actual animal. Amazingly, from 魚座 (Pisces/fishes) two fishes splash off the paper and flop around for a bit before they return to the paper. Everyone stops what they're doing and looks at the only Oni that successfully made an animal out of ink and chakra! Dispelling itself, the other Oni all get its knowledge as tons of ideas swim through their heads!

"It's so obvious now! Drawing takes years of practice and technical skill in order to get even decent at it! However, writing in kanji and then using my chakra to craft the animal or object it represents makes a lot more sense! I mean according to the Fuuin no Sho archives, the Choojuu Giga works through the user's will; it said nothing about me having to draw the figure out!

One group writes ワーム (Worm) as dozens of long worms wiggle from the paper, but don't detach. Group two writes 蝟 (porcupine) as five porcupines claw out of the paper and unleash a hail storm of quills, that dispel their summoners; unintentionally of course. Group three writes クーガー (cougar) as a single cougar roars from the paper. Unlike the other animals, the cougar not only leaves the paper, but moves over to Oni's bed and lays down to take a nap. Dispelling group three, the others know what went right and wrong with groups two and three.

"_So group two messed up the chakra flow in the jutsu and the minute the porcupines were conjured, they dispelled in a shower of quills. Group three used the knowledge from two and combined their efforts into making a single, though effective, cougar. The reason it went to sleep is because its users were tired from making it." _Naruto ponders. With the new knowledge, group four writes 雀 (Sparrow), making sure to focus on their chakra flow and keeping the image of a sparrow in their heads during the process. The result is a fully functionally flock of four sparrows, that land on the window and look at the rising sun. It wasn't mastered, since he hadn't been able to see how it holds up in battle, but at least he could make the Choojuu Giga work! With their tasks done, the Kage Bunshin, along with the cougar and sparrows, dispel in plumes of smoke; or ink in the Choojuu Giga's case. The chakra infused ink, moves like a coiling snake, before it returns to Oni's body; like a napkin soaking up a spill.

Not even a second later, the Uzu Oinin appears outside his door in a whirlpool.

"It's time to begin your first day at Kiri's Shinobi Academy. Pray you make it through the first day." Uzu Oinin says, walking into the hut and grabbing Oni, before they both leave in a whirlpool.

Once they reappear, Oni is shocked in awe at the high tower like Academy. It easily towered over Konoha's single floor Academy. With his job done, Uzu Oinin disappears, leaving the blonde alone. Despite the Uzu Oinin's words, the blonde could barely control his excitement! To think, he could make new friends, show Kiri his skills and maybe become a shinobi! Even if he'd be a Kiri Shinobi, he'd still be one and maybe even become the Mizukage! Walking inside the tower, Naruto is a little depressed when the interior of the Academy resembled the dungeon he was held in not even a day ago. The walls were damp, torches hung all around the tower and it was just one big room; with drops of water coming from the high ceiling. Several puddles were formed, oddly enough, in four columns and nine rows thanks to said drippings; that gave off an eerily loud dripping sound.

Not seeing any chairs or tables, Oni just sits down where he stands and decides to review more of the Fuuin no Sho while he had the time. He was so engrossed in his studies, he didn't notice children around his age file into the chamber. Among the thirty-five children, eight seem to stick out the most. One is a boy with pale skin, short, spiky, brown hair, small eyebrows, dirt brown eyes with a dead gleam to them. Another boy has peachy skin, brown hair that he tied into a topknot, brown eyes and a really big nose. Another boy has pale skin, with relatively long, white hair with violet eyes. Another boy has long, shaggy, straw colored hair, who is rather tall and thin; giving him a lanky appearance. His face is hidden behind a mask, even though he wasn't a member if Anbu. Another boy has long, dark hair with his lips noticeably dark in color. The top of his head is wrapped in bandages, and he has an eye patch covering his left eye. A girl has fair skin, long, amethyst colored, hair and wears a simple cloth around her head, distinctively tied at both sides so as the ends of the material protrude upwards, while the remainder of hair is allowed to flow downwards. By far the tallest and largest of the class, most distinctive trait is his fish-like appearance. He has small round eyes and long, orange hair that reached into his back with some pinned up at the top. He also has six green stripes on his face. The final boy stood out the most by far. He has a distinctive shark-like appearance, complete with pale blue-grey skin tone, small, round white eyes, gill-like facial markings under his eyes, gills on his shoulders and sharp triangular teeth. He also styled his dull blue hair in the form of a shark fin.

Once everyone is seated, from one of the puddles, a man, wearing the standard attire for Kiri's Oinin (mask is similar to Haku's) rises from the seemingly shallow water. He has long black hair and beard and bore a scar over his left eye.

"Greetings Kiri children, I am Tsuguri and I will be your conditioner, along with my team." Tusugri says, never dropping his calm and cold stare. From several of the puddles, three Oinin rise from them; one is a man with slicked back spiky indigo hair, and a mask with half of it colored in yellow, going diagonally. Another Oinin has short, brown, spiky hair and a mask with two blue fang patterns going down from the top and over its eye slits. The last Oinin has medium sized, brown, spiky hair and a mask with two green curved lines under the eye slits.

"It is our job to see which of you have what it takes to become shinobi/kunoichi of Kirigakure. Yondaime Mizukage has instated a new program to weed out the weaklings from the strong, but you're greatest concern, is to pass this test. The only way to do so is to show us your nature affinity. Before we begin, we'll go through name call: Momochi Zabuza" Tsuguri says as the boy with small eyebrows raises his hand.

"Akebino Jinin." Tusguri calls as the boy with the big nose raises his hand.

"Hoshigaki Kisame." Tusuguri calls as the shark boy grins and raises his hand.

"Hoozuki Mangetsu." Tusuguri calls as the boy with white hair sighs and raises his hand.

"Kuriarare Kushimaru." Tusuguri calls as the lanky boy raises his hand.

"Munashi Jinpachi." Tusuguri calls as the boy with dark lips raises his hand.

"Ringo Ameyuri." Tusuguri calls as the girl with amethyst hair, moves a strand of hair out of her face, then raises her hand.

"Suikazan Fuguki." Tusuguri calls as the large, puff fish, boy raises his hand.

"Uzumaki Oni." Tusuguri calls out, everyone turns to Oni, who raises his clothed hand. The Uzumaki were infamous in Kiri and to have even one in the Academy was a sight to see; though not much could be seen through his clothe.

"I understand you have a life supporting medical jutsu active constantly, just know that will not save you here." Tusuguri says coldly, before he resumes calling names. Oni is too busy, recalling the jutsu inside his mind to pay much attention, until his new sensei was finished.

"Now that we're all familiar with each other, the test may begin." Tusuguri says, giving his men the signal; and with that, his men go through a series of hand seals.

"Tatsu (Dragon), Ushi (Ox), Mi (Snake), Inu (Dog), Tora (Tiger), I (Boar)! Suiton: Eien Oashisu (Water Release: Eternal/Forever Oasis)!" the Oinin trio roar. From the ceilings, streams of water pour down like waterfalls; forming thirty-six waterfalls. Each Oinin conjures twelve Mizu bunshin from the water, which continues to flow and grabs each child by the head, before dunking their heads inside the waterfalls.

Oni instantly begins to panic, flailing his body to try to break free of the Oinin's iron grip. His head is completely submerged in the water, but when he opens his eyes, he finds himself back in Hengoku; at least his head is. From the abyss, a Croc specter swims towards the blonde, its maw already open with Death magic pouring off its fangs.

"**Dammit, you have to get out of here now! Every time you come close to death, its messengers will automatically come after you! Kushina, you bitch, get off your ass and tell the baka what his nature affinity is, so I can free us from this!"** Kyuubi demands from its cage. Down the corridor of the Kyuubi's Boiler Room, inside one of the many rooms, Kushina looks over her musuko's memories with a grim expression. She couldn't believe how the villagers she and her otto (husband) died for treated their pride and joy; their legacy! It's only thanks to the Kyuubi's roar, that she realized how dire the current situation was. Racing to a room titled "Control Room", the red head is surprised when the minute she races through the door, she begins to fall in an endless sea of blue sky; needless to say she had her answer.

"_**He's a fuuton user ya Kedama teme!"**_ Kushina roars, her reply echoing from the vast sky and into the Kyuubi's Boiler Room.

"**Perfect, I have just the jutsu in mind!"** Kyuubi roars, adding so much of its youki to the Boilers, that it begins to lift his body high into the cage; until it reaches Oni's subconscious (think of it as Naruto's projection of himself inside his mindscape) and grabs a hold of it with one hand. Meanwhile, Oni's eyes turn blood red, along with a thin shroud of Kyuubi's youki.

"**Fuuton: Daitoppa (Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)!"** the possessed Oni roars, unleashing a gust of wind, that completely frees him from Hengoku and propels him and the Oinin literally through the chamber's walls; dispelling the Mizu Bunshin behind him. Catching his breathe, the blonde makes his way back to the chamber, just as others are either passing or failing. Of the previous thirty-six children in attendance, only twelve survived the ordeal; the other twenty-four were drowned before their time.

Zabuza manages to control the flow of the water, around his face to prevent drowning as the Mizu Bunshin releases him. The moment he's freed, he stabs the bunshin with a kunai in the side as it dispels. Jinin pulls out a huge hammer and dispels the Mizu Bunshin by striking with a mighty swing. Kisame literally sucks up all the water before turning around just as he finishes hand seals.

Tatsu (Dragon), Tora (Tiger), U (Hare)! "Suiton: Mizurappa! (Water Release: Wild Water Waves)!" Kisame roars, cheeks bulged with suiton chakra and unleashes a waterfall of water at one of the real Oinin, who kawarimis with one of the Mizu Bunshin as it takes the hit and is dispelled. Kisame grins sinisterly at the Oinin, the gleam of death reflecting off the shark boy's eyes.

Mangetsu uses some strange kekkei genkai, to completely liquify his body and combines with the waterfall, before turning into a spike of water and impaling the Mizu Bunshin; only absorbing the extra water for himself.

Kushimaru, reveals hidden senbon from his wrist guards and twists his arms, in such a way, that stabs the Mizu bunshin in the sides and dispels it. Jinpachi kicks the Mizu Bunshin in the shin and once its grip is loosened, he literally back hands the bunshin's head clean off; dispelling it in the process. Ameyuri wraps her legs around the Oinin's waist and spins around, before throwing the masked man away from her; freeing her from drowning. Fuguki fires countless needles from his hair that impale the Mizu bunshin and dispels it. With the twelve children preparing for another attack, Tusuguri claps in approval.

"Even though only three of you realized your nature affinity, I'm highly impressed with the rest of your performances. You all pass the entrance exam, each of you must enter one of the corridors for instruction on one of the aspects of being shinobi/kunoichi: Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu and Kenjutsu." Tusugri instructs before he and his Oinin team disappears in a splash of water.

"Tsk I guess the fun is over than." Kisame scoffs, before he walks down a random corridor. One by one, the other children walk down separate corridors, leaving Oni to ponder his fate. Kiri seemed so much different than Konoha. Not even Konoha tried to kill him, as far as he knew, especially not in the Academy of all places. What kind of Mizukage was the Yondaime if he subjected mere children to such a fate? And where were the parents, wouldn't they miss their children? Speaking of, the blonde looked at the lifeless bodies of those that failed to escape and couldn't resist the shivers that ran down his spine; they just left them there...

Shaking the fears and insecurities out of his mind, Oni walks down one of the corridors; getting the eerie feeling he was being crushed as the walls seemingly close in on him. Upon further inspection, the blonde finds the walls are literally closing in on him! Swiftly dashing towards the exit, he finds it strangely getting further and further away as the walls get closer and closer to crushing him; until he is literally sandwiched. Slowly but surely, the blonde found himself in a, no pun intended, tight spot.

"_**Naruto kun, you're in a genjutsu! Listen and listen well, the only way for you to dispel this is by unleashing a burst of chakra to disrupt the enemies chakra!"**_ Kushina instructs. With that bit of information, Oni unleashes a burst of chakra so dense, it literally blows a dome like hole all around him; causing craters to form all around him. Finally free from the torture, the blonde dashes to the exit, where he finds Tusuguri calmly sitting on the floor.

"You continue to impress me, Uzumaki san. I see you had some trouble with my genjutsu though, so we'll keep practicing until you can sense them effortlessly..." Tusuguri says coldly, beginning the hand seals for his next form of torture...

This went on day, after day, after day; for an entire year. Oni would wake up, be escorted to the Academy by Uzu Oinin and then trained in one of the shinobi aspects, a different one everyday. During his ninjutsu training, he was forced to fight against one of the Oinin in only ninjutsu; while being shrouded by the Kirigakure no jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique) outside the village, in the swamp. It was intense training, that resulted in him getting chased by Croc and Lanky specters nearly everyday. During his taijusu training, he would have his chakra sealed and he'd be left for hours, for all he knew it could have been days, deep in the swamp with all manners of creatures; crocodiles, leeches, etc. To make matters worse, he had to fight them off with nothing but his bare hands and whatever he found in the swamp! During his genjutsu training, Tusuguri would place him in a genjutsu and then hurl him off a mountain; Oni never was so thankful the Kyuubi was sealed inside his gut. Kenjutsu training was the most brutal of them all, it was simply him having to fight not only Tusuguri, but his Oinin team as well in a battle of weapons. It was through this training that the blonde found his weapon of choice; a scythe oddly enough.

During the nights, when he wasn't surviving in the swamp, Oni practiced not only the jutsu from the Fuuin no Sho, but whatever jutsu he learned from the Academy. He also read Mr. Misfit's book, finding it intensely intriguing. He learned that Seal Slinging is an art form that allows a person to unlock the mysteries of life. He learned seals were the keys to the universe and the very chains of a person's imagination and will.

He learned the basic composition of a seal are either: circles, squares, triangles, ovals, trapezoids, parallelograms, pentagrams, hexagons, octagons, diamonds, stars, hearts, arrows, crescents, cubes, cylinders, cones and pyramids. He learned about the three sources of energy all seals required in order to activate them: Love, or cosmic energy. Will, or love for oneself. And finally chakra, but not the chakra Naruto was used to. According to Mr. Misfit, chakra came in seven forms: Root, or survival. Sacral, or sexual. Solar Plexus, or will and ego. Heart, or humbleness. Throat, or expression. Brow, or creativity. And Crown, or spirituality.

Currently, he knows the Choojuu Giga, Chakra no Ito, Kirigakure, Fuuton: Daitoppa, Shingan (Mind's Eye), Kage Bunshin, Senpuu Shunshin (Whirlwind Body Flicker), Ishibari (Stone Needle), Kanashibari no jutsu (Temporary Body Paralysis), Kasumi Enbu no jutsu (Mist Waltz Technique) and Sairento Kiringu (Silent Killing). He could also use Spacial Seal: Mold to make basic shapes, but didn't know any other seals. Seal Slinging was not something he could have his Kage Bunshin use; since they were incapable of generating Love or Will of their own.

Oni was particularly pissed he only knew three jutsu from the Fuuin no Sho: Shingan, which allowed him to use his chakra like an echolocation to find targets from a set distance of 5 miles all over; though his chakra would bounce off of walls and other objects and could miss with the jutsu. This jutsu was perfect for when he was stuck in the swamp, giving him sight even in the mist and greatly complimented his Sairento Kiringu; allowing him to see his enemies way before they could see him. As much as he hated to admit it, the Kyuubi helped greatly with giving the Chakra no Ito a more deadly use than just attaching and controlling objects; no now he could attach it to a person's organs! Since he has no organs, due to being dead, there was no risk of it resulting in murder-suicide. And of course, Choojuu Giga, which he was more than proficient in. He could conjure worms, cougars, fishes, sparrows, crocodiles, moths, foxes and weasels.

Despite the harsh and intense training, Oni managed to retain his innocence and his personality; all in thanks to his kaasan's love and affection. Still, the boy was forced to mature, in part thanks to his Kage Bunshin studying of subjects other than shinobi skills. Kushina was adamant on him learning about psychology, geology, and other areas of interest; hell even health science. Sure he wasn't Tsunade, but he could heal minor to mildly seriously wounds.

All in all, Oni was a much better shinobi than when he first walked into the Academy. He even made a few friends, Zabuza, who he learned was an orphan like him and had a thing for big weapons. Zabuza seemed to excel in kenjutsu and suiton ninjutsu, his weapon of choice being an oversized kunai, with an inwardly curved tip. Despite the boy's cold and distant demeanor, Oni could tell Zabuza was a good natured boy, who just wanted to be loved; they got along pretty well. Ameryuri seemed to excel in kenjutsu as well, preferring to use twin blades and was easily the fastest in their class. The girl could turn you to ice with her glare, but once she warmed up to you, she was the sweetest girl you could meet; despite her mild bloodlust. Kushimaru seemed to excel in kenjutsu, though his style was weird, since he used a long needle and wire to literally stab and stitch his enemies back up. The lanky boy was mostly a loner and hardly ever talked, in fact the only words the boy said in the entire year was "Ouch." He only said that during one of their spars, when Oni managed to attach on of his Chakra no Ito to the boy's stomach and gave it a tug. Still, Kushimaru was a great listener and even had a way of cheering you up with his actions alone.

Today was the day of the Graduation Exam and possibly the end of his mission. He didn't know why today was so important, but he guessed he would figure it out. Nothing could be tougher than the year of hell he endured right?

And done!

And now the end of the test!

* * *

**Continued...**

6) If you could make anything you thought of a reality, what would think of?

**A) I would think of a vast world completely blank for me to arrange and create whatever I wanted in it! From the climate, to the races of the creatures, the different cultures; the possibilities are endless!**

B) B**tch, t**ties, a**ses, booze, party 24/7! (Females: Studs, chest, abs, a**s and d**k!)

C) I'd make weapons of mass destruction! All will bow before me!

D) I don't know...

a. +1 (Yes mwhahahahaha!)

b. 0 (Tsk, tsk, tsk. So small minded. It gets boring after a while; trust me...)

c. -1 (Good luck not having an "unfortunate" accidents. If you're not making them for some organization or nation, you will be considered a threat. Actually, with this mindset, you'll be a threat anyway; don't go to sleep, I might be tasked with killing you...

d. 0 (Come on... Where's your imagination?)

7) Can you visualize?

A) I can't visualize to save my life

**B) I can imagine, is that the same thing?**

C) I have an eye for detail and can remember little things.

D) I can fantasize

a. 0 (You better hope you can because in Seal Slinging visuals are your life; literally.)

b. +1 (Yes actually, visualization and imagination are essentially the same thing. You're on your way!)

c. +1 (Good, you have to be detail orientated to even grasp the basics.)

d. +1 (Good, Seal Slinging was the fantasy of a mad sage and now is an art form that opens the mind to the doors of truth.)

8) Can you dance?

A) No.

**B) Kind of, I just flail around and try to stay on beat.**

C) I compete with others in the performing arts and win.

D) Does the Disco count?

a. 0 (So, neither can I. I just flail around all crazy and s**t, showcasing my mad flexibility and slim bod, just do whatever.

b. +1 (Me too and it seems to work for me heh heh!)

c. +1 (Over complicated way of saying yes, but okay. Gotta give you props, you'll love Seal Slinging! It combines just about all the arts into one!)

d. 0 (Kind of, it's a start I guess, hell in my youth, I did it all the time. We have to work on getting you more moves though; you're kinda stiff.

9) If you could attract anyone to you, would you?

A) Hell yeah I would, I'd have all the hot ladies/fellas attracted to me, buying me things; doing whatever I wanted!

B) I'd use it on the woman/man of my dreams so that we can live happily ever after!

**C) Nah, too much work, I'd rather attract them the normal way.**

D) Maybe.

a. -6 (I thought I told you to stop taking the test shallow person. What about your victim and yes they would be victims. What if they don't want what you want? You failed the test, no matter what your score is now, you will fail.)

b. 0 (That's kind of creepy...)

c. +1 (I know right? I mean one person is hard enough to influence, let alone manipulate.)

d. +1 (I like the way you think sir/madam. Who knows what temptations the future will bring?)

10) From a scale of 1 to 10, what's your pain tolerance or your general feelings towards pain?

A) 1 to 2 (I HATE IT!)

B) 3 to 4 ( I bruise like a banana!)

**C) 5 to 6 (Eh it comes and goes.)**

D) 7 to 8 (I kinda like it.)

E) 9 to 10 (OMG I love it, GIVE IT TO ME NOW!)

a. -1 (Oh stop being a p***y. Pain is a part of life, so get used to it.)

b. -1 (Yeah well at least you'll have interesting stories to tell!)

c. +1 (I know right?)

d. +1 (Me too, but only when a woman does it. A strong woman, hey don't be ashamed; I'm not!)

e. ? (Easy there here press this o to get your fix. Think of a number between one and OMG STOP!)


	5. Spacial Seal: Repel

LS67: I'm Baaaaaack. Shout out to my new fans, Brandon Graham 88, like the name dude! Jehnto, keep on writing man! KafeiDetour from Australia! Yasha Kyouran, a fan of NTS! from the UK!

* * *

Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "…"_

_**Spirit speech "..." **_

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "…"**

Hand seals/kanji: Tori酉(Bird), I 亥(Boar), Inu 戌(Dog), Tatsu 辰(Dragon), Ushi 丑(Ox), Tora 寅(Tiger), Mi 巳(Snake), Ne 子(Rat), Uma 午(Horse), Saru 申(Monkey), U卯 (Hare), Hitsuji未 (Ram)

* * *

Naruto the Seal Slinger

Spacial Seal: Repel

* * *

Sitting on the east gates of Kirigakure, a lone Oni is wide awake; watching the setting moon and rising sun. Unwrapping a sliver of his Hifu (Skin), he sketches both the glaring sun and luminous, crescent, moon. In the center of them, he draws a little diamond and tops it all in a circle.

_"Like Mr. Misfit says, ya gotta keep it simple. No point in sweating things you can't control; just sit back and observe."_ Oni says to himself, or so he wishes.

**"That man was smoking some mad grass when he wrote this."** Kyuubi chimes in, finding the man's book nothing more than a madman's diary of Hell!

**_"Shut it Furball, a beast like you could never understand the complexity of inter-dimensional fuuinjutsu! My son, the first shinobi to achieve the unthinkable; cheating death!"_ **Kushina cheers; because no one cheats death.

_"This coming from the woman who was pierced through the chest, just after giving birth no less."_ Oni jokes, everyone, even Kyuubi can't help but share a chuckle or two. That was the thing that connected them, their bond; their deaths. Even though Oni couldn't tell whether he was now fourteen, thirteen, or seven, he did know he had been in Kirigakure for a year. That's a year of intense training, absolute zero sleep and maximum cramming of information, battle tactics, fuuinjutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu; hell he was about ready to just name his own category for jutsu! Especially if you included the two 'seals' he knew; from another dimension!

_"Dattebayo I'm so awesome!"_ Oni says to himself.

_**"Don't be getting arrogant Naruto chan. Your mom has already learned eight seals from another dimension and mastered four of them; two more than you've even learned,**_** HA!"** Kushina teases; after all he was nine in this dimension/time period; right?

_"Oh I see, you're teaching me so well. I should flaunt my power around and step on the little peoples."_ Oni says snickerly. Kushina's smile drops, using the ink from the Fuuin no Sho (Scroll of Seals) she projects a haunting image of herself out of the black material.

_**"UZUMAKI NAMIKAZE NARUTO, You apologize to your mother this minute, or so help me I will send you to a pocket dimension filled with**_** FANBOYS..."** Kushina demands. Oni cowers in fright of his mother's apparition, nothing terrified him more.

_"MOMMY NOOO! Don't send me to fanfiction's worse YAOI fanfics again, I swear I'll be a good boy, a good boy."_ Oni begs on the verge of tears; never again would he endure such Hell...

"What the hell's wrong with you Oni kun? You're always spazzing out!" Ameyuri says, right before she, affectionately, slaps him upside his head.

"Better?" She asks, knowing that normally did the trick. Oni nods in the yes, he could practically feel the excitement pouring off of her today and who could blame her. This was the day of Graduation and their shot at being official Kiri Shinobi/Kunoichi and maybe even working together like back in the Academy. The sun is fully out, even the mist seems to dissipate a little more just for today.

"What do you think the exam will be about?" Oni asks out of curiosity. In the span of one year he's been here, the blonde noticed the year before them only had three Genin graduate out of the sixty nine Academy students in the class. Was it really such a hard test, that more than half the students failed and why weren't they in his class then? If you failed, did that mean you were kicked out of the Shinobi program?

"Who knows, what could they possibly do to us at this point?" Ameyuri asks, causing Oni to chuckle. Perhaps he was just being over cautious; what could be harder than the hell he's gone through so far in his existence?

_**"Don't get arrogant Naruto chan. While you're definitely Genin material, you're far from**** unbeatable."**_ Kushina warns him; she was his voice of reason so to speak.

**"Yeah that title currently belongs to me!"** Kyuubi roars smugly, only for both Oni and Kushina to give him a dry look.

_"Sooo what do you call being sealed inside a baby boy against your will?"_ Oni asks the giant fox, who growls from the wise crack.

_**"I call that being owned big time,**** dattebane!" **_Kushina cheers, flashing the v sign and grinning. The great Kyuubi just scoffs at his two 'roommates' and curls up, its massive face resting on his hands and decides to take a nap. Shaking his head at his tenant's antics, Oni hops off the gate and immediately races to the Academy.

"You sly bastard, you're not going to beat me!" Ameyuri yells, before she races after Oni through the misty village. Both Academy students show their training by dashing through the village from rooftop to rooftop. Feeling like a daredevil, Oni jumps from a rooftop and lands on a railing, and grinds it hardcore. Not one to be outdone, Ameyuri also grinds a different railing, except she does so with upside down on her hands. Hopping off the railings, both kids land gracefully in front of the Academy doors.

"Looks like the lovebirds finally arrived; did you finish your make out session?" Zabuza chuckles, that is until a kunai is planted firmly against groin.

"I'm sorry did you say something?" Ameyuri asks a little too sweetly. Her face is so sweet and yet her sharp smile betrays that.

"Oh I didn't say anything." Zabuza says, sweating bullets at the thought of losing his package. Satisfied with his answer, Ameyuri removes her kunai from his lower regions and puts it away for later. Oni can only sigh at his friends' antics, he had grown used to this kind of banter. Kushimaru places a hand on the blonde's shoulder, revealing that he was there if they needed him. Looking around, Jinpachi, Jinin, Kisame, and Fuguki were all in attendance and ready to go.

"Has anyone seen Mangetsu?" Oni asks, not seeing the feisty Hoozuki clansman anywhere.

"Probably got assimilated by the Yondaime by now." Fuguki says, sharing in his village's hatred for kekkei genkai users. Rumor had it, the Yondaime would use his 'purifying' chakra to cleanse kekkei genkai users of their genetic diseases. Without warning, the doors of the Academy opens forcefully, causing all gathered to draw their weapons at the ready. Ameyuri wields twin blades in a reverse grip, Zabuza wields a broad, two handed, kunai, Jinpachi wields a broad sword with a massive explosive note on it in one hand and a scroll in the other. Kushimaru wields a long needle like blade, Jinin dual wields a hammer and ax Kisame wields a katana, Fuguki preps a jutsu and Oni unravels some of his Hifu. Applause echoes from inside the Academy, before a familiar presence makes itself know.

"Congratulations on making it through your training so formidably. I must say, all of you gathered here have the potential to bring Kiri back to its former glory." the Yondaime says, his innocent smile was enough to warm the coldest hearts. Each of the kiri shinobi/kunoichi hopefuls lower their weapons and bow in respect to their infamous Kage.

"Tell me, have any of you ever heard of the Gold and Silver Brothers of Kumogakure?" the Yondaime asks, walking around the gathered children as if inspecting them.

**"Ah I remember those two pricks, little shits thought they could capture me, using the Sage's tools against me. The nerve of those pricks, swallowed them whole before they could do any real damage."** Kyuubi says, remembering the two brothers very well; it's not everyday you forget people who were able to survive inside your gut for two weeks by eating your flesh.

"Yes Yondaime sama. They were two of Kumogakure's most infamous shinobi. They stole four of the five Treasured Tools of the Sage of Six Paths and severely injured both the Raikage and Nidaime Hokage during talks of peace." Ameyuri recites, having memorized just about all figures of interest throughout the Five Great Shinobi Nations.

"Good to see Tsurugi hasn't lost his touch. Here's what they never revealed to anyone outside us Kage *everyone gives their undivided attention.* The two brothers were sent on a covert mission to capture the Kyuubi no Yoko for Kumogamkure. The mission ended in the brothers being eaten alive, but it doesn't end there. The Gold and Silver Brothers managed to survive by doing the unthinkable, they ate the flesh inside of the Kyuubi for two weeks, before the Bijuu regurgitated them out. That led them to having unusually large chakra reserves, but abilities similar to Jinchuuriki themselves. In fact, they were once deemed Pseudo-Jinchuuriki." Yagura says, stopping in front of Oni. Looking into the blonde's sky blue eyes, Yagura can sense the Kyuubi within them.

"That's an impressive story Yondaime sama, but what does that have to do with us and the graduation ritual?" Jinin asks, not seeing the point behind all of this. Yagura smiles darkly, finding amusement in what he had planned for the group of kids.

"I'm glad you asked. That story has always fascinated me to no end. As a Jinchuuriki myself, I found the very idea of transferring the Sanbi's kiri youki into another person seemed foolish. I've seen what can happen when someone comes in direct contact with a Bijuu's youki; it's not pretty." Yagura says, before he snaps his fingers. In a plume of smoke, A holding tube is revealed with Mangetsu inside of it; his body is almost completely united with water.

"That's when it came to me. The Hoozuki clan was founded by the previous Kage of Kirigakure and is one of a few clans safe from the Kekkei Genkai purges; it was the Sandaime Mizukage's dying wish his clan be taken care of. The clan is renowned for their ability to liquefy their bodies, but the Sandaime Mizukage was also able to use his clan's ability to render the Sanbi's youki harmless." Yagura explains, before he places his hand on the tube tank.

**"Rendering a Bijuu's youki useless, dammit it's like fighting that accursed Senju all over again!"** Kyuubi roars, waking up to actually pay attention to what was happening. Yagura injects streams of Sanbi's chakra inside the tube with Mangetsu, the purple haze like chakra contaminates the watery prison. Once the chakra makes contact with Mangetsu, the boy begins to flail in sheer agony. The chakra enters his body, turning his skin purple.

"The Hoozuki clan has an ability not seen since Hashirama Senju. By using their bodies as a filter, they can purify a Bijuu's youki and convert it into raw, solid chakra." Yagura explains the procedure Mangetsu was going through. The Hoozuki clansman literally had to force the chakra out of his body, concentrating it in the form of purplish black blobs, that fall from a vent at the bottom. the Yondaime walks over to the blobs and picks one up. Before they horrified children can even comprehend what their Kage had planned, Uzu and a squad of Oninin appear in splashes of water behind him. Each Oninin ensnares the kids in water whips and forces them to their knees.

"Ringo Ameyuri, Akebino Jinin, Kuriarare Kushimaru, Momochi Zabuza, Munashi Jinpachi, Suikazan Fuguki and of course Hoozuki Mangetsu, you have all been selected to become members of The Seven Ninja Swordsmen, all I ask is you pass a certain ritual." Yagura says. To say all gathered were shocked was an understatement. Each of them were orphans and the chance to be the most infamous band of swordsmen in Kirigakure was like a dream come true. In Oni's case, he was a bit disappointed, until he realized he didn't belong here in the first place.

"What about me Yondaime sama? Am I not worthy of being one of the Seven? I will take any challenge to show my worth." Kisame says with determination.

"Hoshigaki Kisame, you're records show you are more suited for Cypher Divison. If you can complete the mission in this scroll, I will see to it you become a member of Kiri's most important divison, that answer directly to the Seven Swordsmen; it's better than becoming a lowly Genin." Yagura says, not seeing Kisame as Seven Swordsmen material; at least not yet. Once Kisame is released, he grits his teeth, but bows his head, and accepts the mission scroll and rushing to complete it.

"What is this ritual Yondaime sama, just say it and it shall be done." Fuguki says, bowing in front of the mighty Kage. With the Yondaime's words complete, the Oninin release all but Oni, whom Uzu has restrained.

"Swallow this." Yagura says, holding the youki blob to the gathered children. A few of them cower at the strange substance, believing it to be poison. Fuguki shows the most faith in his Kage, he walks over to the Yondaime, bows on one knee and holds out his hands to accept the youki blob. Dropping the blob in Fuguki's hands, the large boy eagerly swallows the blob. Once it hits his belly, the large boy kneels over in pain. His body oozes a shroud of purple youki, before it seems to settle inside of him.

"This is my blessing to you, my filtered youki. With it, your chakra reserves will naturally increase faster than that of a normal shinobi. This is due to your chakra having to constantly try and flush the youki out of your system; think of it as an advanced chakra control exercise. Step up my Seven Swordsmen and accept your blessings." Yagura says, one by one, the gathered children swallow the youki blobs and feel the surges of power that coursed through their veins.

**"Well shit..."** Kyuubi says, knowing the implications of giving non Jinchuurikis Bijuu youki.

_**"What do you know, Furball?" **_Kushina asks, not liking the pale expression on the fox's face.

**"He's doing more than just giving them filtered Sanbi youki. That bastard is injecting the Bijuu's Malice into those kids. ****Every Bijuu is essentially a mass of chakra, both positive and negative flows. Our chakra is directly tied to our emotional states. That's why I can sense negative intent, because it's so closely tied to chakra.** Anyway, I can sense the negativity inside those youki blobs, s**ure they'll get increased chakra reserves and physical abilities, but their mental states will be fucked.** If those kids don't go on a killing spree, I'd be surprised." Kyuubi says, shocking both Oni and Kushina at the implications of his words. Could the Yondaime really subjecting kids to such mental torture? Inside the tube, Mangetsu turns completely into liquid and slips out through the vent, the boy's eyes were wild and red; the Sanbi's youki leaks off of him like sweat. Each of the newly instated Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, each produce a different effect from Sanbi's youki. Zabuza produces a shroud of purple mist, purple lightning dances around Ameyuri's body, Kushimaru has thin purple wires draped around his body, Jinin's eyes glow a deep violet, Fuguki produces a shroud of purple chakra and Jinpachi focuses the youki into his hands.

"With bits of the Sanbi's youki coursing through your veins, you will become the greatest generation of Seven Swordsmen of the Mist in the history of Kirigakure, by being this village's first Pseudo-Jinchuuriki! Now go and show your fellow students the power you've been given." Yagura declares, before pulling out a scroll and opening it. Out of the scroll, the seven swords, passed down throughout the generations of the legendary seven, appear before the gathered children.

Without warning, everything seems to stop; all action, all time just freezes. A green ray of light projects the Shamaness' image, before Naruto unfreezes, but is still restrained.

"W-what the hell is this?" Naruto asks, finding the whole experience a bit sickening.

"This is a mission briefing. The Bloody Exam is about to begin; there is no way to stop it from happening." the Shamaness states matter of factly.

_**"Surely there must be some way to prevent the pointless slaughter of children in their**** prime." **_Kushina asks on the verge of tears. To think so many children in their prime would be slaughter by order of their own Kage, the person they look to for guidance and strength.

"I'm afraid not, The Bloody Exam has already happened and Naruto's presence here can not change that. After this event, this sort of exam will be discontinued not only by Kirigakure, but all other hidden villages. Naruto, your mission is to obtain the Nuibari by any means necessary. Once you've obtained it, simply find a secluded place and use the Great Dimensional Migration (Gureeto Jigen Ikoo) to return to the Institute." the Shamaness says, before she disappears and time restarts itself.

"Momochi Zabuza, your records show that you have immense physical strength, preferring to use a broad kunai as opposed to smaller weaponry. Despite the size of your weapon, you seem to wield it with ease and without it slowing you down. It's due to this, I bestow the Kubikiriboochoo to you." Yagura says, handing the massive blade to Zabuza, who accepts it with pride. Smiling insanely, the berserk Zabuza races deep inside the tower, moments later screams of agony and the sounds of spilled blood echoes throughout the Academy.

"Suikazan Fuguki, for your loyalty to me and Kirigakure, I bestow you with, the most terrifying of all the seven swords, Samehada. May it be a testament to your loyalty to Kirigakure and your leadership of the Cypher Division." Yagura says, handing the bandaged broadsword to Fuguki, who cries tears of joy as he holds the Samehada. The sentient hilt coils around his arm and immediately drains the large boy's chakra; sampling his chakra for its taste. Humming in delight, the Samehada accepts him as its wielder.

"Let's go feast my Samehada!" Fuguki roars, charging down on of the halls leading to the other students' classes. Screams of death and the sounds of destruction echo down the halls, only exciting the Sanbi-fied children gathered.

"Kushimaru, for your skills in stealth and speed, I bestow you..." Yagura starts,

**"It's now or never!" **Kyuubi roars, before he reaches out to Naruto and takes a hold of his conscious.

**"I challenge Kushimaru for ownership of Nuibari!"** the possessed Oni declares, just before Yagura can hand the infamous, narrow, longsword over to masked youth. Handling the longsword in his hand, the Yondaime gives some thought to the proposal.

"Records show, Kushimaru is better suited for the Nuibari. He has been trained to use the Art of Death by Sewing by the previous wielder of the infamous longsword." Yagura states, after all they were all selected for reasons.

**"Records also show that anyone that can defeat the wielder of one of the seven blades, becomes its new wielder. Either way it goes, I'll be getting Nuibari one way or the other." **the possessed Oni declares, not at all intimidated by the glaring purple wires that twirls around Kushimaru's arms menacingly. Seeing a battle ensuing, Uzu dispels his restraints and disappears in the darkness of the corner.

_**"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"** _Kushina demands, before she activates the Hakke no Fuuin and represses the Kyuubi's influence over her son. Once Oni regains his consciousness, he is mildly confused when he sees his friend, Kushimaru, giving a murderous vibe; with a trace of bloodlust.

"Longsword Ninja Art: Sparrow Sewing! (Chooto Ninpoo: Suzume Nui)" Kushimaru roars, shocking Oni, since the boy never spoke his jutsus. Thrusting his own longsword out, Kushimaru releases his youki wires, from the blade's tip, at the blonde Jinchuuriki, who tries to evade the incoming attack. The youki wire manages to pierce the blonde's arm, before it begins to sew up his arm starting from the forearm.

Pulling out a kunai, Oni cuts off the affected arm and kawarimis with a soggy log just in time. Kushimaru draws the severed arm towards his blade and stabs it clean through; a little disappointed there was no blood.

"Come on Oni, what color is your blood, do demons even bleed?! I guess we'll just have to find out won't we!" Kushimaru yells insanely, before launching another Sparrow Sewing right at Oni, who uses another kawarimi to evade the deadly jutsu. Crafting another arm out of the Scroll of Seals, the blonde Jinchuuriki weaves a slip of his Hifu, signs ヤギ Goat (Yagi) on top of the 超獣偽画 Super Beast Imitating Drawing (Choojuu Giga) array. Spiraling from the array's center, six goats of ink spawn forth and charge towards the masked youth.

"Longsword Ninja Art: Earth Spider Sewing! (Chooto Ninpoo:Jigumo Nui)" Kushimaru roars, burying his youki wires underground, causing the very area to tremble and creep.

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!" Oni roars, making the infamous, cross, hand seal and crafting several doppelgangers of himself, whom all make a ladder swiftly. Climbing to the top, Oni awaits whatever devastation Kushimaru would reap. Pulling on a single wire, a formation of razor sharp wires literally slices off the Super Goats and Kage Bunshin's legs, dispelling them all. With their balance gone, the ladder of Bunshin comes tumbling down, each time one lands, the wire formation slices them to oblivion. The real Oni uses his doppelgangers as springboards to keep himself afloat.

_**"Naruto chan, the wires, land on the wires not between**** them!"**_Kushina advices, just as her son leaps from his last doppelganger. Looking for the wires, Oni sees thin wires in a diamond formation and tosses a kunai at the diamond. Landing on top of the kunai handle, the blonde unseals two handfuls of kunai and leaps into the air to get an aerial perspective of the battlefield.

Launching his kunai at all the diamonds, Oni successively plants kunai in all of the jutsu's weak spots. Applause echoes through the field, Yagura laughs in clear amusement. The battle was truly a sight to see, a Jinchuuriki against a New Flood Pseudo Jinchuuriki; who would win?

"Too bad we can't make this public; people would come from all Nations to see what we are today Uzu." Yagura says, before he makes a chair out of coral, sits back and watches the battle commence.

Erasing the goat from the Super Beast Imitating Drawing array, Oni signs 猫 Cat (Neko) in the center and conjures three beastly cats, that roar and race across the wire gracefully. Kushimaru disconnects the youki wires and thrusts his longsword three times in quick succession in each of the cats, reverting them back to ink. Using the ink as a smokescreen, Oni uses a whirlwind body flicker (Senpuu Shunshin) to appear behind Kushimaru, his jutsu already prepared.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough! (Fuuton: Daitoppa)" Oni roars, the bindings around his mouth stretch open and a squall of wind rushes from his mouth, blowing away all within his sight; which just so happened to be Kushimaru and the Yondaime. Yagura uses chakra to keep himself secure, but Kushimaru was not so lucky and was thrust forward, causing him to tumble head first into the ground and then further more.

Erasing the cat from the array, Oni signs 雀 Sparrow (Suzume) in the center and conjures a single beastly sparrow, that lands on the blonde's hand. Visualizing an explosion, 爆 appears on Oni's hand and then transfers to the sparrow, which takes flight and circles around him ominously. Recovering from the surprise attack, Kushimaru rises to his feet, blood dripping from underneath his mask.

"I refuse... To allow you to wield the Nuibari! It is my birthright, I have trained since the day I could stand, killed all in my way and I'm not about to lose it now that it's this close." Kushimaru says darkly. Oni couldn't believe it, they boy he thought he knew so well, was a killer? Searching his memories, the blonde youth couldn't think of anytime the mute boy was cruel or murderous; was this due to the Sanbi's influence?

"Longsword Ninja Art: Pin Shot! (Chooto Ninpoo: Piin Shotto)" Kushimaru roars, channeling his youki wires into a bundled knot on the tip of his blade. With a trained thrust, the masked youth sends the knot of chakra springing towards Oni, who is in the middle of unraveling another slip of Super Beast Imitating Drawing array. Signing the blank array with エイプ Ape (Eipu) and conjures on huge beastly ape in front of him. The beastly ape takes the chakra knot for Oni, saving his life and showing him just what can happen to him. Like a slingshot, Kushimaru is shot forward and swiftly pierces the beastly ape through, reverting it back to a mass of ink; some of which splashes on his mask.

**"Now's your chance Uzumaki! Use the Spacial Seal: Mold, mixed with Spacial Seal: Repel!"** Kyuubi barks, seeing as the masked youth was already cleaning the ink off his mask. Not seeing any other choice, Naruto channels his Will (Solar Plexus chakra, or yellow energy) through his hands in a show of bright light.

"Spacial Seal: Mold of a Cube!" Oni declares, shaping his Will into the form of yellow cube between his hands. With only seconds left, the blonde youth channels his Lust (Sacral chakra, sexual energy or orange energy) inside of the cube.

"Spacial Seal: Repel." Oni chants, spinning his Lust counter-clockwise (negative). Seeing the blonde preparing some strange jutsu, Kushimaru launches a Sparrow Sewing at the blonde youth. Hoping for the best, Oni hurls his creation at the Sparrow Sewing.

"Spacial Seal: Powerbomb!" Oni roars, the cube of power expels a vortex of dark orange and light yellow energy. True to its name, the space manipulation seal repels all in its way, even Yagura must move out of the way of the forceful attack. Kushimaru is forcefully slammed through the walls and even through the trees of the swamp behind the Academy. Oni looks at the aftermath of his multi-dimensional seal; his first time ever really using it in combat. He studied the effects a million times, but to see experience it was a different story.

**"Spacial Seal: Repel, a seal with the ability to literally repel all space around it." **Kyuubi says, admiring the destructive capabilities of such a technique. Yagura couldn't contain his excitement from the result of the battle.

"Uzumaki Oni, you have proven yourself, without a shadow of a doubt, to be Seven Swordsmen potential. I gladly bestow the Nuibari to you, young Uzumaki." Yagura says, eagerly handing the Nuibari to Oni. Holding the infamous blade, that cost him his friend, was bittersweet in a way to the blonde. Remembering his other friends, the blonde Uzumaki searches for them, only to see no one left. All seven of the swords were also gone, but the scent of blood reeks throughout the Academy and even outside of it.

"I already gave them their tools and their missions. They were eager to serve the man that gave their meaningless lives some purpose." Yagura says, with no signs of remorse. Oni grips the Nuibari tightly, hearing this sham of a Kage call his friends' lives meaningless. To say all the smiles they experienced, all the tears they shed, they dreams they had were nothing?!

"It's not much... But at least some good will come of this event." Oni says lowly, but Yagura still hears him.

"My point exactly Uzumaki. You see, it's the little things in life that surprise us the most." Yagura says, chuckling to himself at the little pun he made. Without another word, Oni uses the Hiding in Ink Clouds jutsu to cloak the entire room in an ink smokescreen. Caught off guard by the tactic, Oni adds chakra and ink to his Sparrow, increasing its size, and hoping on it. The beastly sparrow craws, before soaring out of the smoky room and into the misty skies of Kirigakure. Looking down at the village he called home for a year, the blonde can see his friends reek havoc among those they once loved. Blood sprayed the walls like graffiti and even some of the Chunin are no match for the Sanbi possessed children.

_"I have to go help them."_ Oni says, directing his sparrow to descend down, only for a water whip to barely miss ensnaring him. Flying out of their range, the blonde can only shed tears for his foreign comrades as he ascends into the clouds. Once he was out of sight,

"Grand Dimensional Migration!" Oni roars. The Scroll of Seals bindings unravel completely, revealing Naruto's peachy tan skin, whisker marks and sun kissed hair. The bindings spiral around him in a bubble like dome, before they bind him tightly and sends him back to Destiny Institute.

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And scene! I know this is a tad on the short side, but it just feels like that was the best part to end on. Hope it was worth the long wait, Happy Turkey Day tomorrow everybody!


	6. Peace among the Chaos

Happy belated Thanksgiving fans of NSS! Hopely it hasn't been too long since Thanksgiving has pasted. Hope everyone got to fill their stomachs with good ol home cooked meals and spent time with loved ones; in the end, that is what the Holidays are all about. Shout out to my latest fans, I will try to get you all in this one. Also, I have more "Understanding the basics of Seal Slinging" if you're all interested in seeing what it is Naruto will be doing most of his studies. Anyway, shout out to Cap'taine Chaussette, Apportez sur le marché français! Dan Frogger, rare to see a Naru/Karin; keep on writing! MonkeyWthAKnife, ha you might make a cameo in one of these chapters; strangely enough, I did intend to have a monkey summon who used swords, daggers and knives haha. Outcaste, like the name. ValiantPanther, keep on writing! And Tamahome8 from the Philippines! If I missed you, drop a review telling me and you'll get a shout out next chapter!

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Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "…"_

_**Spirit speech "..."**_

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "…"**

Hand seals/kanji: Tori酉(Bird), I 亥(Boar), Inu 戌(Dog), Tatsu 辰(Dragon), Ushi 丑(Ox), Tora 寅(Tiger), Mi 巳(Snake), Ne 子(Rat), Uma 午(Horse), Saru 申(Monkey), U卯 (Hare), Hitsuji未 (Ram)

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Naruto the Seal Slinger

Peace among the Chaos

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Deep in the west side forest of the Destiny Institute, space and time are literally ripped asunder, tearing a hole in reality itself. From the hole, a scroll unravels with グレート次元移行 (Great Dimensional Migration) written, in a spiraling circle formation, in the center. From the center of the kanji, a peachy tan arm wiggles out, before it pulls the other arm out. With both arms out, they free the rest of their bodies, revealing Naruto Uzumaki. Once the blonde was finally freed from the scroll, it closes itself into a huge bundle, which he slings over his shoulder.

_"I completed my mission, but failed to save either of my friends. Who knows what will become of them now..."_ Naruto mourns. He didn't think it would be this hard, being a ninja was supposed to be fun.

_**"There is nothing fun about being a ninja Naruto. It is a harsh and brief life, your father and I are testament to that and we were top class ninja. I know you feel you've let so many down, but now is the time to better yourself. Now is the time, you pick yourself back up and never let what happened in Kirigakure again. Become so strong, that if anyone tries to ever replicate such evil, you will be there to stop them."**_Kushina says, her spirit projects from the Hakke Fuuin and rubs her son's shoulder affectionately. A few tears fall down Naruto's face, but a confident smile still lingers. He knew his mother was right, he couldn't just give up; it would be like spitting on the memories of his friends back in Kirigakure.**  
**

**"How touching, if it gets anymore sentimental in here I might just unleash a Bijuudama into my own head."** Kyuubi groans, before he assumes his resting spot inside the seal gates.

With new found strength, Naruto leaps into the trees for a better vintage point. Scanning around, he sees Destiny Institute to his west in the distant. Leaping through the trees, the blonde Jinchuuriki finds it a bit weird to be doing this after so long. For an entire year, who knows how long here, he traveled through swamps and on top of water. Next to that, this was a stroll down the block. With each leap, he'd easily pass over several trees. Wanting to test out his training from Kiri, the blonde runs in a spiral around a great oak, leaps to another tree, then races to the tree's peak.

_**"Looks like some good came from participating in that hell after all. Your chakra control is easily Low Chunin and you've managed to merge 0.09% of the Kyuubi's youki into your own; boosting it to High Chunin easily."**_Kushina cheers, proud of her son's progress in just a year's time; though, what a year it was. The Kyuubi perks up at the mention of its youki, but upon hearing such a small percentage, decides to cut off its link to them.

_**"Which equals about one full tail of Bijuu youki. I've been reading Understanding the Basics of Seal Slinging and it turns out, the more forms you have, the more times you can cheat death! That's your ticket back to your original time period, if you can master six forms, then you'll be able to**_** return!"** Kushina explains with glee. To say Naruto was excited was an understatement. Only one word could express such incredible news.

"Dattebayo! I can't believe it, I can finally go back to Konohagakure, see Hokage-Jiji, Iruka sensei, and eat at Ichiraku Ramen again! Ahhh I can already taste that delicious broth in my mouth, steaming and flavorful." Naruto says, a dribble of saliva dripping from his mouth. Kushina sighs at her son's verbal tic; how she prayed upon prayed he wouldn't inherit the one thing she wished to change about herself.

_**"May I remind you, you have yet to master a single form, nor do you even know what a form is." **_Kushina says, causing Naruto to stop on a tree limb and sit full lotus. Closing his eyes and focusing on the center of his forehead, the blonde Jinchuuriki shifts his consciousness to his subconscious and enters his mindscape...

Once inside, Naruto looks down towards Kyuubi's Boiler room, hearing the mighty beast snore deeply, then heads down the hall containing his mother's realm. Stepping out of the eerie sewer, he's amazed when his sandals disappear off his feet and his bare feet touch wavy grass. Before the blonde was Uzushiogakure (Village Hidden in the Whirlpool), composed of several high-rise buildings. A wide river runs through the village and is gapped by large bridges. The surrounding countryside is dominated by steep hills.

(Inside Naruto's mindscape, he is outside the scope of the Death Slingers. Due to him not being "unconscious" he is simply accessing his "Subconscious". To put it more simple, when Naruto is asleep or knocked out, he is unconscious. When he is mediating, he is in his "Subconscious". Whenever he is in his or others' Subconscious, spirits talk normal and not _**like this. Got**_** it?**)

"This is my home village as I remember it." Kushina says, a grim smile gracing her face. Grabbing her son by the hand, the crimson haired woman guides them throughout the village. Whenever she saw something she remembers, the very memory would play out for them to see. Kids of all ages laugh and play on the bridges, ninja hopefuls used the powerful river for training and adults went about their business. The Uzumaki crest, along with other clan crests from around the world, were etched around the village. The shops were bursting with business, from various kinds of fish, to scrolls on unique jutsu and the like.

"Whoa, is this really your home village?" Naruto asks, completely flabbergasted by the sighs before him. To his dismay, all the memories, the spirits of the past disappear like mist. The once lively village is literally turned to rubble in seconds, a ruined version is displayed before them.

"This is my home village now... We were a famed village, known for our fuuinjutsu and our longevity. We were so famed, Shimogakure (Village Hidden in Frost), Kumogakure and Kirigakure banded together and destroyed our entire country. We were forced to scatter across the globe, leaving behind our families and home." Kushina says grimly, crying heavy tears from all the pain of losing everything. Upon seeing his mother in such a state, the blonde hugs her affectionately, which cheers the red head right up. Feeling her son's embrace was worth all the pain she endured. The two Uzumaki stop on the largest bridge in the village, where a raging whirlpool waits below.

"My Papa used to tell me they called this the Whirlpool of Life because it swirls clockwise, much like chakra." Kushina says, gazing into the enormous whirlpool with wonder.

"Chakra spins?" Naruto asks, never once experiencing his own chakra spinning. Kushina giggles at her son, before rubbing his head affectionately.

"Everything, even this planet rotates, or spins Naruto chan. Chakra follows the flow of the planet, which is a grand source of chakra. This whirlpool is the perfect example of the Forces of Nature at work before us. It spins clockwise, funneling deeper into the depths of the planet. Chakra is similar in that way, it spirals at such a speed, you can't even tell its spinning, but you can tell its moving." Kushina explains.

"You mean like when I flare my chakra and its all wavy and wild?" Naruto asks, flailing his arms to give a visual example.

"Yes Naruto chan *giggles* that's basically it. Anyway, the reason I brought you here, is to start training you in mastering forms." Kushina says, much to Naruto's glee!

"Dattebayo, I'll master this in no time! Tell me mom *smiles a little bigger* what is a form?" Naruto asks, wanting to show he was determined.

"I'm glad you asked, to put it simple, a Form is the shifting of power in your soul. Its when your physical body becomes a 'formless' mass of energy and then takes the appearance of a more ascended, or stronger, form than your normal form." Kushina explains.

"What do you mean formless?" Naruto asks.

"Remember how it felt when you first used the Great Dimensional Migration?" Kushina asks.

Yeah, it was truly a scary experience..." Naruto replies, shivering at the experience.

"Well returning to the formless can be scary. The formless is essentially your soul, since it has no definite form. It is the physical body and mind that gives the soul a vessel, or form. In order to become formless, one must have enough chakra control and chakra to force their soul from their bodies, then make a new form out of pure chakra; it's a lot easier than it sounds." Kushina explains, but Naruto was far gone. He got lost after she said force your soul from your body.

"Wouldn't that kill me?" Naruto asks, much to his mother's annoyance. Smacking the blonde upside his head,

"Naruto, you're already dead; that's why it's easier for you to do. The only reason your soul is taking that form now, is because that is your mind's default form. It's probably the reason you keep forgetting you're dead; because your mind refuses to believe it. Anyway, we're going to take that tail of Kyuubi's youki and turn it into your first form! So run some visuals by me; what kind of form are you looking for?" Kushina asks, materializing some ink, a feather pen and a sketchpad.

"OOH can I be an animal?" Naruto asks with glee; he had the perfect animal in mind.

"You sure can, you can become anything you want." Kushina says, curious as to what her son would want to be.

"I wanna be a toad, but be human like and tall! I want blue skin, with orange underbelly and feet." Naruto says, his mother eagerly sketching her son's ideal form for him to see. Once she was finished with the sketch, she had a blue/orange toad, with red eyes and the Uzumaki crest on the belly.

"Dattebayo/Dattebane!" mother and son cheer, both happy with the design. With the visual fresh in her mind, Kushina leaps over the side of the bridge and lands safely on the water's surface, away from the whirlpool. Placing her palms on the water's surface, the Uzumaki matriarch pumps her indigo (Brow) chakra, Will and Love into the raging whirlpool; the strength of the trio forces the pools to stop whirling.

"Naruto listen well! I need you to focus one tail of chakra throughout your body in the form of a shroud, can you do it?" Kushina asks, knowing that even if one tail of the Kyuubi's chakra had merged with Naruto's, drawing that strength may alert the Kyuubi to their plan.

"You better believe it!" (AN: Couldn't resist :D) Naruto exclaims, before he focuses his Will from Uzushiogakure and right inside the Kyuubi's Boiler room. Inside the steaming room, Naruto's Will swiftly yanks a tail from the Kyuubi, who only twitches in its sleep unaffected, and injects it inside the Boiler pipes. Once inside the pipes, Naruto's crimson (Root) chakra cleanses the bloody red youki and turns it to red mist. Once the youki is safely converted, Naruto's Will absorbs it and takes it back to Naruto in Uzushiogakure. Once the blonde is consumed in red mist, he leaps off the bridge and dives for the halted whirlpool.

"Dimensional Seal: Shifter!" Kushina roars. Like a series of stopped gears, the whirlpool begins to spiral once more, but something was odd about it. The once crystal blue waters, turned a dark indigo and the funnel begins to spin off key. One layer goes clockwise, while the other goes counter-clockwise, opening a vortex in its center. Without fear, Naruto dives into the vortex, where his soul is literally turned into a funneling cone.

Kushina's indigo chakra washes over the "forming" (In between Formless and Form. Or you can think of it as being in the process of being Formed) Naruto, before it bends to her Will and transforms her son into his first form; Toad Apprentice. Wanting to get used to his new form, Naruto crouches with his frog legs and leaps out of the whirlpool in a sling bound. Looking at his hands, he's amazed to see he has the upper body structure of a human, with opposable thumbs on his webs and bulbous fingers.

"This turned out perfectly! I want you to go back to your conscious and try to see how long you can keep this form going." Kushina says. With that, Naruto returns to his consciousness...

Once Naruto opens his eyes, he looks at his hands and still sees his hand hands, but sees a indigo chakra silhouette of a toad's hand around his own.

_**"Hmmm seems like your mind can't grasp shapeshifting just yet. Instead of accept the form as its own, it projected it using chakra. Well it's a start, go try out your toad**_** form."** Kushina suggests. Crouching like a toad, Naruto is shot into the air by the Toad's legs and gets an idea. Darting out his tongue, one of the Kyuubi's red tails shoot out of the Toad's mouth and wraps around a tree. Using the tail like a slingshot, the blonde ninja zips through the forest, whenever it felt like he was about to land, he'd dart out his tail tongue and slingshot himself again.

"Woooooohoooo Yeeeaaah!" Naruto cheers, gliding through the forest at break neck speeds. Whenever a tree would get in his way, he'd stick to it, run around it and leap further west. Thanks to his time in Kiri, the blonde's senses were always sharp and keen, so it wasn't a surprise when he picks up on several scents trying to surround him.

_"Agh who smells like dead booty meat?"_ Naruto says to himself, saying so out loud would open his throat to the offensive scent.

**"Do you even know how that smells?" **Kyuubi asks, the scent so strong even he could smell it in his Boiler room. The mighty beast roars in agony once the scent hits his nostrils and seemingly burns his nose red, causing tears to leak from his eyes. Realizing that running would be impossible, Naruto leaps from a tree and lands in a clearing, with a creek.

Using the waters from the creek, the blonde uses "Hiding in Mist jutsu" to conceal the clearing in a thick mist, unseals the Scroll of Seals and re-equips his Hifu, concealing his physical body, but not his Toad shroud.

"Well what do you know. Here we, sisters, are just flying on by and we happen to come across a lost little Seal Slinger." a beautiful woman, with wavy chocolate hair, icy gray eyes and pale white skin, says. To Naruto's shock, each of the three sisters were floating in mid-air with the aide of certain tools. The chocolate haired woman rides a wooden broom, side saddle, with two mini pumpkins spiraling around it. A blonde woman, with jade green eyes and peachy skin, rides on top of a black storm cloud and a red haired woman, with light brown eyes and tan skin, rides on two pumpkins that spit out fire.

"Ooooh I've never seen this seal before. How did he produce it without any Love, Arual?" the blonde woman asks the chocolate haired woman, who taps her finger on her chin in deep thought.

"Good question, Naeco perhaps he's a newbie that came from another dimension. What do you think Adirem?" Arual asks the red haired woman, who takes a deep inhale through her nose and exhales deeply.

"Differently a newbie to these parks. I'm not familiar with his scent of leaves and ashes; smells good though. How old are you kid?" Adirem asks the blonde sweetly, emitting an aura of Lust and Sin. Sensing the ill intent the women reeked of, Kushina projects her Will outside of Naruto's mindscape and uses the mist to give her Will form.

**"Stay away from my Naruto chan!" Kushina yells with fury. The witch sisters giggle darkly down at the two Uzumakis as they glide around them in a circle.**

"Ring around the rosie." Arual chants, before she tosses one of her pumpkins at the Uzumaki duo. From the pumpkin's top, huge vines spew out and threaten to skew them. Kushina spins her indigo chakra clockwise, blending the white mist with the indigo chakra and opens a dimensional rift hole.

_**"Dimensional seal: Evoke!"**_Kushina roars, hurling her newly formed dimensional rift at enchanted pumpkin. Once the pumpkin enters the rift, it closes and seals the pumpkin away safely.

"Pocket full of posies.." Naeco chants, before she glides over to the duo and unleashes bolts of electric blue and purple lightning at them; forcing them to separate briefly.

"Ashes, ashes..." Adirem chants, dismounting her enchanted pumpkins and sends them flying, one at Kushina and the other at Naruto. The one aimed for Kushina seemingly hits mist, before it explodes in a dome of fire. Kushina's Will is forced back inside Naruto once its form was destroyed. The pumpkin aimed for Naruto gets sealed inside his Hifu, much to the surprise of Adirem.

_**"Not the most reliable form I'll admit, but it's better than nothing." **_Kushina sighes; she really needed to get started on her own form training. If she was going to continue to help her son, she'd need more stable forms to depend on...

"We all fall down..." the three sisters chant in sync. They grab each other's hands and sit in a triangle formation, before they begin to gradually spin. All three of their respective powers blend the faster they spin, forming blue fire with purple smoke. The purple smoke begins to conceal the three sisters in a veil of mystery.

**"So why are you just watching this go down?" **Kyuubi asks, never understanding why ninja felt the need to let their opponents gather their strength and put up a fight. If they're your enemy, then no mercy is shown; that's what he's always believed. Snapping out of his stupor, Naruto unseals dozens of shuriken, from four pronged to three pronged, and fuma to bent tipped, out of the palm of his hands at the cloud formation. The projectiles go right through the mist, without hitting any of the sisters.

"Avonrepus has arrived, you may die now. Hex Magic: Torch!" Avonrepus, the combined form of all three sisters, chants. She is a tall woman with white hair and three pendants of ruby, brown diamond and topaz around her neck. From the palm of her hand, the purple smoke rotates counter-clockwise and unleashes a plume of blue fire at the blonde. Leaping out of the way, the blue flames scorch the terrain to ash, the grass and trees were consumed.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough! (Fuuton: Daitoppa)" Naruto roars, from the Toad's mouth, a huge squall of wind is released at Avonrepus, who just giggles at the display.

"Ahhh how cute. Hex Magic: Repulse!" Avonrepus chants, holding out her hand, a pulse of yellow (Solar Plexus) chakra is unleashed and forces the squall right back at Naruto with three times the force. The blonde Jinchuuriki is literally slammed into the ground, with several cracks forming in the ground , only for him to go up in smoke.

"Well that's interesting, I swear Seal Slingers are getting more creative by the day...!" Avonrepus is shocked when her senses alert her someone is behind us. Ducking just in time, the white haired woman dodges a scythe swing to the head. Getting some distance from the sneaky blonde, the white haired woman runs her hand through her hair and notices a few strands fall out.

"Allow me to school you in the uses of Death Slinging. Unlike Seal Slinging that uses pantsy ass Love, Will and chakra, Death Slinging uses Hatred, Ego, chakra and most importantly physical material. Things like hair, blood, limbs and eyes are a commodity for us." Avonrepus explains, before she opens a dimensional tear in reality and pulls out a human eye and arm.

"I just so happen to all the materials needed. I sacrifice my Ego, my Hatred, my crimson chakra and this arm and leg to my Lord and Master, Death herself! Hex Magic: SCORCH!" Avonrepus chants, offering all needed sources of energy to her blue fire, which burns each to a crisp and adds to the flame. The once blue flames take on the shape of a enormous pumpkin and burns a blackish red. Hurling the massive flames at the blonde, Naruto holds out his right arm in front of the flames.

"Spacial Seal: Repel!" Naruto roars, a flash of yellow chakra is unleashed in the form of a burst that collides with the Scorch magic. Both seals fight for dominance in a struggle of power, with the blonde pumping as much of his yellow chakra, Will and Love into the seal as he could; Avonrepus simply awaits the outcome. The Toad shroud vanishes, the blonde Jinchuuriki falls to one knee under the intensity of the flames, feeling his grip on the seal begin to slip. With one finally push, the white haired woman out powers the Repel seal and consumes the blonde in her flames. Once the flames clear, a pile of ashes is left in his wake.

"Ahh done already? I was just beginning to have some fun too. Oh well, might as well collect the ashes. Vex Magic used with ashes is easily ten times stronger then when using herbs or spices." Avonrepus says, levitating back to the ground and walks over to the ashes. Before she can even behind over, chains of yellow chakra snake out of nowhere and wrap around her, but she easily breaks free from them.

_**"Naruto I told you about using jutsu you haven't mastered yet! You just learned how to make chains out of chakra a week ago! You still lack the control to make the chains near indestructible."**_Kushina scolds, seeing as the blonde missed a great opportunity to end this battle; deception is one of the greatest tools of death. Somewhat surprised, Avonrepus aims Torch magic at the blonde, who barely dodges out of the line of fire. The Torch magic burns through the forest, spreading havoc and mayhem along the way. Holding his arm in pain, nasty burn marks scar the entire forearm.

"You said your magic is fueled by Hatred, how can you hate me when you don't even know me?" Naruto asks, trying to buy some time for the Kyuubi to heal his wounds. Avonrepus stops her next spell and gives the blonde a look over. She could tell he was beginning to tire, what with the burned arm and all the seals and tricks he's used. She, on the other hand, had plenty of energy to burn, so why not indulge him?

"Oh it's not you I hate; it's everything else. I hate people who look down on others for things like gender, sexuality, race, etc. I hate people who stomp on people's dreams and I definitely hate Seal Slingers, with their holier than thou mentality! You just so happened to pick the wrong day to be a Seal Slinger." Avonrepus declares, with each statement her face grew darker, until a devilish scowl remains.

"I'm not like other Seal Slingers, hell I barely know what that means! My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I come from a dimension with ninjas and ninjutsus, not Seal Slingers and seals. Look into my eyes and you'll know I'm telling the truth." Naruto pleads. Avonrepus makes the mistake of looking into the blonde's azure eyes and is caught in Naruto's Temporary Body Paralysis jutsu (Kanashibari no jutsu). To the white haired woman, she was stunned by the intensity of his stare, the glaring sapphire maelstrom of energy and power. By the time she realizes she's been enchanted, Naruto has already taken out his scythe and sliced her in half diagonally. The two halves of Avonrepus burst into green fire, before she splits back into Neaco, Adirem and Arual.

"Well that was a dirty trick." Adirem says with a scowl.

"I know, I loved it! It was like a Medusa glare, except we're not stone!" Arual says with hearts in her eyes. Despite Naruto's sneaky jutsu, the chocolate haired Death Slinger found herself believing his claim.

"Chill Adirem, he managed to defeat our Union form; test is over. You can come out now, Koomuru." Naeco calls out.

"I knew you could do it, Naruto kun. You owe me a quarter bag of 2212, Noxa chan!" Koomuru says, appearing behind Naruto from seemingly nowhere. Acting out of fear and instinct, Naruto lashes out with his scythe, only for Koomuru to duck underneath the swing and disarm the blonde in a matter of seconds. Swinging the scythe clockwise, a dimensional rift opens and takes the scythe to another dimension.

"Ah man, but I just grew it, dammit you three were supposed to win! You're all Rook (8th) ranked Death Slingers for crying out loud! He's only been dead a year, while you three are pushing twenty years!" Noxa screams, digging into her bosom, pulls out a baggie of red herbs with blue crystal like hairs and tosses it to Koomuru, who catches it lovingly.

"WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?! How do you know these three and why did they attack me? Why do you know Death Slingers and are they trying to reclaim my B.O.L?" Naruto asks, firing off a series of question. The gathered women all stop their chatter and look at the blonde, before they all share a giggle.

"Where are our manners? We wanted to see how your training in Kirigakure went, so Noxa and I made a bet. You see, these three sisters are students of Noxa and she bet me you wouldn't last 15 seconds against her girls. I bet her you'd win; that's what she gets for underestimating our dimension." Koomuru explains.

"It's obvious I have to condition these three on underestimating your opponent..." Noxa says grimly. The three sisters cower in fear under their teacher's grim and oppressive aura.

"Well it looks like Naruto kun has started his Seal Slinging career with a bang; mission was a complete success! Let's all head to HQ, do you need your arm healed?" Koomuru asks, sticking out her tongue with the green symbol gleaming off it. Looking at his arm, Naruto was shocked when not even Kyuubi could heal the burns.

_"Kyuubi what gives, make with the healing already!"_ Naruto says.

**"Those flames were conjured using Death Magic, the same type of magic the Ghoul Death Slingers use. Not even I can heal right away from that; it'll take at least 4 days for me to heal alone."**Kyuubi explains. With no other option, Naruto sticks out his arm for Koomuru to lick the burns. Her strange saliva coats his arm and gradually begins to heal it.

"That should help speed up Kyuubi's natural healing factor. Your arm should be healed in 2 days tops." Koomuru says. With that, the group make their way to HQ, where the Shamaness sits and reads Naruto's B.O.L

"Man, the Juubi sure is ugly. Why are all Uchiha's such pricks? Oh greetings Naruto." the Shamaness says, putting his B.O.L away quickly; she wonders why the blonde's manga life fascinated her so much. Unsealing the Nuibari, Naruto hands it over to the yoga clad woman, who gives it to Noxa.

"I can't believe such a weapon exists; why hadn't I thought of this sooner?! Using my spirit hooks and emotional links along with this longsword will truly be a sight to see. What do I owe you?" Noxa asks, admiring the inter-dimensional weapon's craftsmanship. Pulling on the wire coming from the eye of the hilt, she determines the wire is produced by chakra and can stretch as long as the user has chakra to burn; perfect for a chakra maniac like herself.

"That'll be an ounce of 2080." the Shamaness says, holding out her hand.

"AN OUNCE, tsk I guess that's fair." Noxa says, digging into her bosom, pulls out a baggie of yellow herb, with green crystal like hairs, and hands it to the Shamaness.

"What is that stuff? It has a really strong scent to it; like lemons and mint." Naruto says, noticing herbs being passed around like Ryo.

"This is what we use as currency in this dimension. It's an herbal substance known as Cannabis, that we evolve using Time seals. 2080 is simply a strand of Cannabis that has been evolved 2,080 years; increasing its potency hundreds of times over. Anyway, you're too young to use this, so you'll be given Credit instead, here." the Shamaness says, handing Naruto a card.

"That is your Credit card. I've given you your commission for completing the mission, so you should be good for now. You'll be on leave for the following week, so spend that time resting and stocking up on supplies. Since you're a Libra, you'll be staying in Libra dorm." the Shamaness explains. Feeling great relief at knowing he had the next week to just explore the place, Naruto makes his way to the Libra dorm for some much needed rest.

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And scene! Man writing this is a lot of fun! I hope you enjoy this latest chapter!

**I'm letting the fans decide which anime from the following Naruto will traverse to next! The first anime to get three to six reviews saying you'd like him to go there will be featured in the next chapter! The sooner I get the reviews, the sooner the next chapter is released. The choices are: Fullmetal Alchemist, Kaze no Stigma, Dragonball (Z & GT), Magical Index, Bleach, Kenichi the Greatest Disciple, Gurren Lagann, Code Geass, Death Note, Mobile Suit Gundam, Samurai Champloo, Inuyasha, Evangelion, Yu Yu Hakusho, Fairy Tail, Soul Eater, and Sailor Moon.**


	7. Sin

Well I know I said three review votes, but two is enough for me! The winner of the anime crossover is Fullmetal Achemist! I am so glad this won, I actually wanted to bring in elements from FMA into this story to give it... I don't know, more depth maybe? Seals and Alchemic Circles together?! The madness is just too intoxicating to ignore! Shout out to Deltablacknaruto, thanks for the correction, I'll be sure to get that updated as soon as life permits. Sky 05, 7 year member thanks for favoriting this crazy tale! T'086421 from Iceland; is it grassy there? I honestly would like to know. Magifury, keep on reading! And Wheelersigmar from the UK!

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Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "..."_

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "..."**

Hand seals/kanji: Tori酉(Bird), I 亥(Boar), Inu 戌(Dog), Tatsu 辰(Dragon), Ushi 丑(Ox), Tora 寅(Tiger), Mi 巳(Snake), Ne 子(Rat), Uma 午(Horse), Saru 申(Monkey), U卯 (Hare), Hitsuji未 (Ram)

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Naruto the Seal Slinger

Sin

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Naruto couldn't believe the quality of Libra dorm. Sure the exterior looked like any other apartment complex, but the interior was truly a sight worth seeing. Most of the furniture was either dark brown or hot yellow, while the walls were the same shade of blue as Naruto's eyes. Hanging overhead were balance chandeliers, with strange black and white orbs in place of ornaments.

"Amazing isn't it? I like to think Libra dorm has the most class." Koomuru says from behind a circular booth office. Naruto rushes over towards the office, happy to see the Anbu from his home dimension and village.

"Yeah, this blows my old apartment out of the water! The Shamaness says I get to rest for the week, but I thought if I went to sleep, the Death Slingers will get me." Naruto says, truly confused by all the events happening around him. He always felt left out of some cruel joke; it didn't help that Koomuru giggles at him.

"That's right, here at the Destiny Institute, there is a seal that prevents all Death Slingers aligned with Death from entering. You see, there are two types of Death Slingers, but they each follow a certain ranking system. I'll start off by explaining the Death Slingers you fought in Kirigakure and the three you fought here in AlterLand; the name of this dimension. The ranks of a Death Slinger go as followed: The lowest or 10th rank is Ghoul, they are your average, run of the mill Death Slinger. They come in many shapes and sizes and are the most numerous; those are the ones you fought. They are by far the weakest of Death's bunch; they don't even have a mind of their own." Koomuru explains, causing Naruto's jaw to hang open.

"You mean those things were like the babies of Death Slingers? They nearly killed me!" Naruto yells, not to mention they looked scary as all hell!

"Pretty much, you haven't even seen the other ranks. The 9th rank are literally Demons, they are given a mind, but it is filled with negativity. That's the reason Demons seem so primal, it's because they are a mixture of higher beings and animals; or to put it simply, they are tortured souls with the minds of animals. The 8th rank is Rooks, while they are smarter than Demons, they looks less frightening; some even look like angels." Koomuru explains.

"What a minute, how can angels be evil?" Naruto asks.

"Rooks are not real angels, they just look like them. Besides, Death herself isn't evil; she's just doing her job. When people die, it is her job to make sure they stay that way; it's a pretty stressful job. Everyone hates Death, but it is a natural part of life. Anyway, the 7th rank are the Demented, they begin to take the forms of humans, but they still have demonic attributes. The 6th rank or Evil Genius are the girls you fought. At this point they look completely human, just with the added bonus of having super powers. The ranks above 6 all look human enough, but the power begins to corrupt their bodies back into their original grotesque forms. The 5th rank is Grim, the 4th rank is Voodoo Master, the 3rd rank is Demon King, the 2nd rank is Overlord and the highest rank is Witch doctor." Koomuru explains. Naruto's eyes spiral in confusion, but Kushina makes sure to store the information away for him.

"How many Witch doctors are there?" Naruto asks, Koomuru's eyes harden, her expression grows dark.

"Only one man has ever obtained the rank of Witch doctor. He calls himself Pa, you see, each rank requires a number of sacrifices in order to obtain its power. Each sacrifice is different for each rank, but they get more numerous and vile in nature the higher the rank. No one knows what has to be done to obtain the ranks higher than Voodoo Master, or maybe she doesn't want to obtain higher ranks. You see, we have a professor here that is a Rouge Slinger, or a Death Slinger that has severed all ties with Death. While it's true, once the ties are severed the Slinger loses their ability to use Death magic, some Death Slingers find other ways to use their magic. Noxa kills Death Slingers and uses their souls to use Death Magic; a part of being a Voodoo Master. You must kill in order to not only get stronger, but live." Koomuru explains, before her features soften.

"Wow, I guess Death Slingers having to kill makes sense, but why does not killing, kill them?" Naruto asks, finding the whole life style quite sad and dark.

"A Death Slinger, much like a Seal Slinger, must first die before they can obtain their B.O.L, the only difference, is a Death Slinger loses their B.O.L to Death, who holds it for ransom with the promise of returning it, but she never does. If you refuse, she has the power to simply end your life at any moment. In the beginning, she takes your Will and leaves you as a Ghoul. The more you kill, the more she gives you back pages of you B.O.L, but she never gives you the good parts; only the bad." Koomuru explains, not minding answering the blonde's questions; she remembered being in his shoes.

"Then how do those three girls and this Noxa have their B.O.L?" Naruto asks.

"The same way you have yours, they had a little help from Mr. Misfit. You see, Mr. Misfit is what is known as a Nexus Slinger, or someone who can use both Death and Seal Slinging. No one knows why he's able too, even Death doesn't remember having his B.O.L. Some say he was born with a Death Slinger father and Seal Slinger mother, but that's bullshit. He was adopted at the age of five, but he's sure his mother was an ordinary human. He doesn't like to talk about his father though." Koomuru says. Naruto couldn't believe someone so insanely crazy, could also be so thoughtful.

"Wow, so he basically frees them from the slavery of following Death... Wait so does that mean Pa is on Death's side? I swear this is the last question, before I call it a night." Naruto says with a yawn.

"No, Pa managed to do what was previously thought impossible. He not only stole his B.O.L from Death, but he managed to weaken her by stealing that which gives her power. Now that's not to say she's still not powerful, she has just lost some of her power. To put it in prospective, in the beginning, Death was able to draw strength from not only the dead, but the Seven Deadly Sins as well; meaning if someone did even one of the sins, she would gain power. Pa stole three of the sins, but Misfit somehow got a hold of one. The other four still belong to Death though." Koomuru explains, before she gets a pair of keys and tosses them to Naruto.

"The room on the end there, room 3013; hope you like it! Oh and congrats on completing your first mission; may you have many more" Koomuru says, before Naruto waves to her and leaves for his room. The complex has four floors, with three hallways on each floor that have twelve rooms down them; totaling thirty six rooms. Once Naruto gets to his room, he unlocks the door and can't believe his eyes.

"Dattebayo..." He says in awe. His room wasn't too big, nor was it too small. It was comfortable enough for two people to live in, but it seemed as if it were empty. The walls where a vibrant orange, with blue, brown and white furniture, including bookshelves, bed frames, tables, work out equipment, etc. Missing the feeling of sleep, Naruto eagerly flops on his bed and enjoys the softness of the material.

_"So things have gotten more complicated. Tell me, have you ever heard of this Pa Kyuubi?" _Naruto asks, since the creature was many eons old. The great Kistune grows intensely serious.

**"He goes by many names, all vile as the man himself. The Black Plague, Toxin, Death Slayer; he is the man that gave up everything for power. His wife, child, nothing was too sacred to sacrifice. He is the only man I couldn't kill; because he has no soul to take. They say the more forms you have in this dimension, the more times you can cheat death. We fought for seven whole days, nonstop and I only saw half of his forms, but he's rumored to have sixty nine; minimum."** Kyuubi warns, causing Naruto to gulp. Mastering one form was hard enough, how was he going to defeat someone with a minimum of sixty nine?

**"You don't defeat him. You never get in his sights; otherwise we all die. Not even Death can stop that man for long. It is said that several Higher Beings band together to seal him for a few decades, before he breaks free and reeks havoc; like a force of nature"** Kyuubi says. Kushina, for once, agrees with the mighty beast.

_**"The fox is making a lot of sense. I don't want you fighting someone that not even it couldn't kill."**_Kushina lectures. With that, the young blonde drifts to sleep, waking up inside a gathering of nimbus clouds and soft hail. The air around him is cold and the sky is almost icy white. From within the clouds, Kushina and the Kyuubi walk out, though the Kyuubi is much smaller; almost the size of a normal Kitsune. The very environment seemed to be thick with energy; so chilling and thick it sticks to his skin. He could literally see the energy hit his skin and lightly freezes it.

"It's alright Naru chan, in this dimension, the dream realm is a place of peace and contemplation. Time is literally nonexistent here. With that in mind, we're going to spend this time training your mind and spirit, but first things first. We need to work on your Toad form, so meditate and get changed already, Dattebane!" Kushina says with great enthusiasm. Naruto couldn't help but get infected by his mother's determination. Sitting in full lotus, the blonde Jinchuuriki begins to channel one tail of the Kyuubi's youki.

**"When the hell did he learn that?!" **Kyuubi roars, pissed at the amount the blonde could already take from him.

_**"Shhh! You'll ruin his**** concentration."**_ Kushina yells with a hushed voice. The Kyuubi growls in fury at the two Uzumaki, but the nimbus clouds simply consume him in their icy mist and freezes his body over.

_**"I told you this is a place of peace."**_Kushina says, blowing raspberries at the giant fox. With the troublemaker silenced, Naruto begins to give form to the wavy youki around him, slowly crafting it into that of his Toad Shroud, before he tries to maintain it for as long as he can.

_**"I came up with a schedule so that we can master new forms as quickly as possible. We'll use this week to improve we already know. On the first day, we'll work on your taijutsu and kenjutsu. The second day, we'll work on the Super Beast Imitation Drawing; I want you to come up with six new figures to your arsenal. On the third, fourth and fifth day we'll work on learning a new seal from Mr. Misfit; I've been meaning to teach you the Spacial Seal: Renew; it'll save you tons on repairing your weapons. On the final two days, we'll just freelance."**_ Kushina explains, getting eager nods from Naruto.

**One week later... **

It had been an odd week in Alterland for Naruto, but it only showed how foreign he felt in this dimension. He followed his mother's schedule to the key, but on each day he would meet someone strange. He developed a taijutsu all his own. He called it the triple fist, when his two tenants decided to work with him. When the Kyuubi was being difficult, it was just the Double Fist. It was simply him throwing out jabs and well trained kicks, but with the added effect of projecting his mother and Kyuubi's limbs out in the form of chakra or youki. It was like throwing three punches at once; one normal, one chakra and the other youki. While he was practicing his kenjutsu, he met a dark guy by the name of Nodnarb...

**Flashback, one week ago...**

It was a dark, starless, night in Alterland and one Uzumaki Naruto was deep in the forests of Destiny Institute. His blade was ripe with the blood of many animals he had to kill along the way. For some reason, the animals seemed more primal and deadly than in his dimension, but maybe that's true for certain dimensions. That's when someone steps into the clearing with him. He has chocolate brown skin, low taper style haircut and almost dead brown eyes. A long scythe strapped to his bare, slim, back. He has many tattoos of various symbols and sayings etched on his body.

"I saw ya take down all those animals to get here. Not bad for a Newbie, but I hear you're from a dimension of ninja, so maybe that's to be expected. Still, I don't know many ninja that wear orange, aren't they supposed to be stealthy?" Nodnarb asks with a dark chuckle, seeing several tick marks appear on Naruto's forehead.

"Ay, don't diss the orange. I can easily project a veil of mist to conceal my presence." Naruto says, pointing his own scythe at the dark guy, who jut shrugs his shoulders.

"Just asking man. I've read a lot of literature about ninja, so I guess you could say I'm a fan. Say, how's about you show me what a ninja can really do? Except none of your ninja magic; just scythe against scythe." Nodnarb says, wielding his scythe at the ready.

_**"This is the perfect time to test yourself Naru chan! Let's kick this guy's ass Dattebane!"**_Kushina cheers. Naruto readies himself, making sure to keep his eyes keen on Nodnarb, who rocks side to side to get his legs pumped up. Without warning, the dark guy rushes the blonde with his scythe gleaming in the night. Once the two scythe wielders met, their blades began to dance their deadly foxtrot. While Naruto was precise and straightforward, Nodnarb was wild and loose; his attacks had little to no coordination to them. Yet, his moves would confuse the blonde to no end. Whenever he thought he found an opening, Nodnarb would close and counter with a wild slash. Not only that, but the blonde couldn't seem to go on the offensive, since Nodnarb had longer reach and seemed to wield his scythe better.

"Come on mini ninja, you're so stiff! All you moves are predictable from conditioning yourself to a certain style! The scythe is a tool used to cut tall grass; it was made to hack and slash! It wasn't meant to be used like a katana, which has various forms and stances. It was meant to be free, no rules, just swing, swing, SWING!" Nodnarb yells insanely, his swings becoming more wilder, more swifter. Before long, Naruto found himself being slashed to ribbons; shocked when Root, red, chakra spills from the wounds. It was like fighting a living buzzsaw, the dark guy moved like a river, able to flow past Naruto's attacks like water against a rock. His swings were wild, yet fluid; nearly always hitting their mark.

"Tsk, this sucks! You call yourself a ninja... Come talk to me when you loosen up a bit." Nodnarb says, before he straps his bloody scythe on his back and walks away; leaving a bloody Naruto behind...

**Flashback ends... **

The loss really affected Naruto. He hardly ever slept, choosing to train with his scythe instead. The only time he stopped, was to follow his mother's schedule. On the second day, the three sisters came to visit him to watch him perform his jutsu. To say the were amazed was an understatement; they all became quick friends. By the end of the second day, Naruto had added foxes, spiders, venus flytraps, weasels, octopi and bears; though he could only make one of those. The next three days, he spent in his room, studying several books on Spacial seals and the like. Naruto discovered his Emphasis was Spacial seals and he even got help from one of the best.

**Flashback, two days ago... **

It was an average day in Alterland, the sky was bright yellow and the white sun seemed to really shine down. No matter how many times he looked up at the sky, it never ceased to amaze him. Naruto sat in full lotus, meditating next to a beautiful young woman. She had wild, and long, black hair, eyes of the most vibrant blue he had ever seen; though he could sense something within their depths. Her slender arms were bare and exposed, showing off the various celtic symbols etched into her flesh.

"Spacial seals affect the two types of space. The space around us, or the elements as we know them." the tattooed woman says, several of her symbols glow with different elements, surrounding her body in a storm of fire, wind, water and earth.

"Then there is the space we take up, or our physical space." the tattooed woman says, her symbols disappear in thin air.

"So it's like nature manipulation then, Exodus sensei?" Naruto asks, his eyes closed and mind still focused on his meditation. Now that the Kyuubi knew he could take away a tail of his power, he would keep an eye on Naruto's influxes of chakra. So Naruto was forced to try to increase his own reserves in order to master Spacial Seal: Renew.

"In a sense, yes it is. The difference, from what Misfit tells me, is that in your dimension, you're not manipulating the elements around you so much as the ones inside you. A lot of your jutsu come from within and how you control yourself. With Seal Slinging, all that's needed is the skill to go 'with' the elements instead of 'against'. The natural elements are several times stronger than any elemental jutsu you can come up with. This is because nature draws its energy from the ultimate source of energy; Love." Exodus explains.

"Love?" Naruto asks, not seeing what that had to do with anything.

"Of course, don't tell me you haven't even gotten that far? Training is over, if you don't know the three sources of energy for a seal; then you're not ready." Exodus says and with that she left.

**Flashback ends... **

After his run in with Exodus, Naruto seriously got into reading Mr. Misfit's book. He learned the three sources of a seal were Love, the strongest source of energy, One or more of the Seven Chakras and his own Will. He learned that Love was essentially life itself, Cosmic Energy or the Grace of God to name a few of its names. It is generated by beings of pure heart, meaning only a Spiritual Guardian can gather and give away Love; his mother turned out to be his SG. On the final day, he literally just sleep all day; choosing to give himself at least a day's rest. When he woke up, he ventured around the campus; truly fascinated by the foreign sights he saw.

Today is the day of his second mission away from Alterland. His mind raced with all the endless possibilities he'd be facing. He stands in front of the Shamaness' desk, Nodnarb by his side.

"Ah glad to see you two here." the Shamaness says, both males just look at each other before Nodnarb scoffs and Naruto just 'tsks' and turns away from him. The Shamaness sweat drops before she clears her throat.

"Anyway, this mission calls for a Seal and Death Slinger. I'll be sending you both to a place called Amestris in a dimension known for its Alchemy. There seems to be a living Philosopher's Stone, that has gone rogue and is using the people of the country as a power source to keep itself fueled. Nodnarb, I want you to find and bring back the stone as it falls under Death Slinger protocol. Naruto, there is a man named Cyrus Elric, I want you to help him put an end to the creation of such vile stones." the Shamaness says, before she pulls out two bottles of a strange liquid; with some white worm inside. Nodnarb eagerly takes the bottle and chugs it, not wanting to be outdone, Naruto does the same.

"That is water drawn from the Dimensional Sea; or a mass gathering of dimensional streams. Inside is a Dimensional Whale, a creature said to dwell in the 21st dimension; a dimension never once seen by mortals. It will make dimensional travel much easier and it will serve as our way of tracking you. Now go, Amestris won't save itself." the Shamaness says, before she opens a dimensional rift.

"Tsk, let's get one thing clear. I have my mission, you have yours; stick to the mission." Nodnarb says, before he crosses over to the other dimension. Naruto charges at the portal, once he's on the otherside, all he sees is darkness. He could feel himself falling, but couldn't tell where or how far down he was. All seemed lose, until a spec of life shines through the darkness. The closer he gets to it, the longer it seems to get, until a bridge of white light stretches in front of him. Walking across the bridge, Naruto begins to see strange symbols along the bridge that lead to a figure. It is all white, with black energy oozing out its body. He had no eyes, the only thing on his face was a big grinning mouth.

"Well, well , well. What brings you to my dimension outsider?" the figure asks, his voice echoes throughout the darkness. The closer Naruto gets to the figure, the more the darkness is chased out by white light, until his entire space is white.

"I was sent on a mission, to help someone named Cyrus Elric." Naruto answers, somehow recognizing this being as the Guardian of the entire Dimension; must be a stressful job.

"Ah you mean the child of Edward Elric? I remember that boy, funny how humans seem to repeat themselves. Much like his ancestor before him, young Cyrus tried to save his beloved sister from a terrible disease by using human transmutation. The ritual cured her of her disease, but turned her into a monster." the figure says with a chuckle. Before Naruto's eyes, the events the figure spoke of played out before him. He say a young man, with silver hair in a ponytail trying desperately to save a little girl with golden blonde hair. One of the strange circles appears on her body and several appear around her body. Then a bright light flashes and consumes them. When the light fades, the young man looks in horror as the little girl's eyes look blank and lifeless, a consuming red energy erupts from her body, before a deadly light consumes a whole town in a dark storm...

"You think that's funny? The man was trying to save his sister!" Naruto yell, truly feeling for the man. The figure just chuckles.

"I wouldn't expect an outsider to understand our laws, but I'm a pretty good teacher." the figure says, its smile grows bigger. Suddenly, a huge door appears behind him and slowly opens. Naruto is shocked when he sees an eye peer at him from the darkness, just before a swarm of black baby hands spill from the gate and grab onto the blonde Jinchuuriki. The pain was truly agonizing, it was like his very being was being ripped and taken to the otherside of the gate, where he learned everything there was to know about the dimension in an instant and eternity all at the same time...

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And scene! I realize the last batch of chapters have been a bit short, but my internet is fudging up so I figured something was better than nothing right? Hope you enjoy!


	8. Will of Steel

Hope you're ready for some NtSS FMA style! Shout outs to my newest fans! Ob1292, dragons man, are awesome. Mellowsmilie, dude you wrote two chapters and got 77 reviews. You should start your story back up, keep that flame going; too many people quit on their stories. Firelordeg, a constant reviewer :) nice to have one of those. Defiasstone2, keep on rockin! Bretmccully, member since 09, keep reading!

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Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "..."_

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "..."**

Hand seals/kanji: Tori酉(Bird), I 亥(Boar), Inu 戌(Dog), Tatsu 辰(Dragon), Ushi 丑(Ox), Tora 寅(Tiger), Mi 巳(Snake), Ne 子(Rat), Uma 午(Horse), Saru 申(Monkey), U卯 (Hare), Hitsuji未 (Ram)

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Naruto the Seal Slinger

Will of Steel

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Naruto awakens in a strange laboratory, smoke and lightning fill the room. His body felt so heavy and cold, as if it were... Rubbing his head, the once blonde boy is shocked when he can feel nothing and hears the sound of metal.

"What the heck?!" Naruto yells, his body clunks and clacks with each movement.

"Calm down Naruto, everything's alright." Kushina says, from outside Naruto's mind. Looking next to him, he sees a tall suit of red armor. Its sleek and shaped for that of a woman, with sky blue trimmings and the Uzumaki crests are drawn into her chest, back and shins. On her helmet is the kanji for Comprehension.

"Mom, you, you have a body!" Naruto yells in shock. Kushina giggles, before she takes off her helmet and reveals a will o wisp floating inside.

"It's more like I bonded my soul, that was sealed within you, with this suit of armor I found in this place. When we crossed through the gate, since we didn't have bodies to begin with, I had to make due with whatever I could find. You, me, even the fox, has a body now." Kushina explains. As if on cue, the great Kyuubi breaks down the doors, clad in a suit of armor made for a fox, with two, steel, tails with kanji for Destruction. Around the kanji is transmutation array

"I'm free mwhahaha... Wait, what happened to my voice?" Kyuubi asks, noticing how his voice seemed less menacing. Kushina giggles, really liking the capabilities of Alchemy. Naruto couldn't believe it, rushing over to a mirror, the once blonde is shocked when he sees a suit of yellow armor with the Uzumaki crest on the back, the Hakke Fuuin on the inside of the armor and kanji for Reconstruction on his hands. Like his mother's, his suit is sleek, but built more for a male, plus his helmet has two fox ear like points.

"Well, I unfortunately had to bond your soul to something too. So I found a fox puppet, transmuted it with a few pieces of armor and dattebane! You only have access to two tails of your chakra. I had nothing to do with that; we can thank the Guardian of this dimension for that. I believe his words were 'I already have enough destruction in my dimension, I don't need the Kyuubi fucking Yoko with all nine tails reeking havoc. Naruto has access to one tail and I have the rest.

"Damn you Uzumaki! You are truly the bane of my existence. As for that dimensional prick, he fucked up because I know Alchemy as well; not my first time through the Gate of Truth. I'm a bit rusty at it though." Kyuubi says. Suddenly the door to the lab is kicked open by a huge behemoth of a man. His body was pure muscle with a black sheen to it. Kushina's kanji begins to glow with life, filling her mind with all kinds of information.

"Who dares enter the lab of the Strong Body Alchemist, Cyrus Elric!?" the behemoth bellows, scanning his lab, he sees three suits of animated armor.

"I've never seen those in here before, speak your business trespassers, or I shall reduce you to scrap metal." Cyrus threatens, clapping his hands together, a blue alchemic array appears beneath him and surrounds his body in blue lightning. His body absorbs the lightning and becomes even more bulky, causing him to appear even more brutish.

"Cyrus san, we were sent here by the Destiny Institute to help you solve your problem." Kushina says, wanting to avoid fighting the mass of pure carbon! She doubted anything short of diamonds couldn't pierce such a hide. Upon hearing that, Cyrus roars in fury.

"Destiny Institute? I've never heard of such a place. Now state your business." Cyrus demands, taking several menacing steps closer to the trio, each step creates crates from the force. The Kyuubi scoffs at the hulking man, slamming his tails on the ground, red lightning surrounds the tips before he rushes Cyrus and slams his tails on him. Cyrus blocks with his bulking arm and is shocked when his carbon hide is destroyed, but he doesn't let that stop him; it was common how to counter his Strong Body. Grabbing a hold of its tails, the bulking man twirls the fox suit around before he hurls it at Naruto, who dodges to the side to evade being sent into the wall.

"We came here to help you deal with the Philosopher's Stone running amok in this dimension." Naruto says, trying to reason with the huge man before him. Cyrus looks into the boys eye slots, unlike most animated suits of his day, he could see a soul; a bright soul. Most animated suits were cold and lifeless, being given the souls of harden criminals and other degenerates.

"How could you three possibly help me. From what I gather from the alchemic arrays on your Armour each of you represent one of the three basic stages of Alchemy. Comprehension, *points to Kushina* Destruction, *points to the Kyuubi, inside a fox sized crater in the wall* and Reconstruction *points to Naruto*. I can then come to the hypothesis that you each can only use those three stages. Together you are strong, but separate." Cyrus says. Clapping his hands together, he slams them on his chest, blue lightning escapes from his body and reverts him to his normal size and build of a slim, yet athletic, man. The ring on his middle finger sparks with yellow lightning, with a flick of his finger, he guides it over towards the trio, but instead of hitting them, it strikes the ground and covers it in lighting. Two holes appear beneath Kushina and Kyuubi, causing them to fall to the floors below; each floor seems to sprout holes and causes them to fall even deeper.

"Now what will you do? Did you really think I'd fall for such a basic trick? I'm a 20 year State Alchemist, I've fought in over 3 wars, 7 small scale wars. All in the hopes of finding a way to cure my sister of the disease that took our parents and their parents before them! Only to have some Grim Reaper reject to take her away, now this will never end!" Cyrus yells, clapping his hands together and surrounding himself in blue lightning once more taking on his brutish state.

"It's not a trick, the guy in front of the gate told us everything! How you tried to use Human Transmutation to cure her, but instead it turned her into a living Philosopher's Stone!" Naruto says, his knowledge of alchemy was barely average and he really didn't want to see if he could feel pain in this form.

"Guy in front of the gate? You saw the gate?... Well that'd explain why you're attached to a suit. Tsk, is that what that arrogant asshole told you? He's giving me way too much credit." Cyrus says, relaxing his body and reverting back to his normal state in a show of blue lightning. If the guy at the gate sent them, he figured they couldn't be too bad.

"So he sent otherworlders to intervene? I really screwed up this time." Cyrus says, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Even though it is brief, Naruto can still see the hurt and shame in his eyes. With a snap of his fingers, blue lightning dances off his fingers and forms a transmutation circle beneath him. In a flash of blue light, a chair is made out of the stones of the floor. Cyrus sits and motions Naruto to do the same, only for the blonde suit to sit full lotus.

"Come on, I know you're from another world, but going through the gates means you know enough about Alchemy to at least make a chair for yourself." Cyrus says, watching and observing Naruto as if he were a new alchemic reaction. In a sense, he was an alien on his world. Naruto tries to recall anything from his time going through the gate; it all seemed like one mad blur of information. Suddenly, a spark comes to him and he sees a transmutation circle being drawn in yellow lightning. On sheer instinct, he makes the cross sign, a drilling sound echoes with a flash of yellow light. From the ground, a chair is made; not as finely tuned as Cyrus', but not bad for a first attempt. Cheering to himself, the blonde takes a sit and eagerly awaits Cyrus' tale.

"Let's start with my profession. I am what is known as a State Alchemist, an alchemist employed by the Amestrian State Military; considered one of the elite even in the military. I am known as the Strong Body Alchemist, for my ability to augment anything I touch. I can either increase the carbon in a substance, increase a substance's mass. I can also make transmutation arrays with my will, but that's only because I've seen the Gate of Truth; it's damn near mandatory to become a State Alchemist." Cyrus explains, trying to fill the alien boy in on how things were.

"You mean your leaders force people to experience that hell in order to join?" Naruto asks, somewhat appalled by the thought of a Kage forcing his ninja to go through the Gate; how many of them would even come out of it with their sanity?

"The life of a State Alchemist isn't for everyone. Once you get this little pocket watch *shows him his State Alchemist watch*, you're pretty much a dog; this is like a leash. The Fuhrer gives you an order and you follow, at least that's what I used to be. Sure, when they told me to go into a town and flatten it I gladly did so... But when they asked me to... Create that thing. I said hell no. Throughout my family, there is a legend that calls the Philosopher's Stone the Devil's Elixir. It is forbidden, even worse than Human Transmutation. I've done some fucked up things, but I would never create one of those things." Cyrus says, his eyes seem to get heavier with each word; like just speaking it was killing him.

"Unfortunately, they found another way to get what they wanted. My little sister, Trish Elric, has a genetic disease passed through our family since the times of Alphonse Elric; a byproduct of him being without his true body for so long. It's a mostly unknown disease that seems to slowly eat away at the victim's body until they are nothing more than barren husks. No form of modern alchemy could help her and her time was short. With nothing left to lose... I performed Human Transmutation on her, to try to purge the disease from her body and then seal it away until I could find a way to get rid of it. I was successful in purging it from her body, but it was too wild and aggressive to contain..." Cyrus says, holding his head in frustration. Tears freely fall down his face, the events fresh in his mind.

"It consumed Trish and used her body as its host. It then spread throughout Yock Island, then to Dublith town. For some reason, all it does is reject me. Whenever I get close, it unleashes an alchemic reaction that forces me miles away. Anyone else that gets close is consumed by the alchemic augmented disease." Cyrus says, his face looking to the ceiling, tears starting to dry; they wouldn't help him get his sister back.

"I... Words can't describe how sorry I am to hear your story. I can tell you really love your sister, that's why I'm going to help you. Whether you believe me or not, I will save your sister and these lands; and that is a promise." Naruto says with sheer commitment and determination. Cyrus wanted to laugh at the blonde suit, to save his sister was near impossible. Nothing short of a Philosopher's Stone could even hope to stand foot inside the massive disease storm.

"You promise huh? Am I supposed to believe you now? That damn disease has spread to an entire town! The only thing containing it in Dublith, is a city wide transmutation barrier. The town acts as its body, the people and animals are its white blood cells and Trish is the mind; she's located on Yock Island, which is basically at the end of the town. You'd have to fight off an entire town of augmented humans and animals, plus the erosive gas in the air and then fight a Philosopher Stone with the souls of an entire town. She's no Father, but she's no pushover. None of the other State Alchemist that went to try to calm her made it back and they've been doing this much longer than you have." Cyrus explains, rising from his seat. This kid was starting to irritate him with his blind hope.

"I came here to help and I'm not leaving until I accomplish my mission. Whether it takes two days or twenty years, I will find a way to save your sister." Naruto says, his motivation unwavering. Cyrus scoffs at him, but upon looking at his helmet and into the depths of his eye slots, all he saw was sheer conviction.

"If that's your attitude, I suggest we get started then." Cyrus says, walking over to the door and motioning for Naruto to follow. The blonde suit eagerly follows him out of the lab and down a spiraling staircase. Once they get to the 13th floor, Cyrus opens its door to reveal Kushina and Kyuubi, both a pile of dismembered metal limbs and body parts.

"Congratulations, the kid has convinced me to spare your lives for now. If you're serious about saving Trish, I suggest you pull yourselves together and follow me to the Library. Even if you've been through the gate, you still lack the experience and technical skills to make alchemy truly deadly." Cyrus explains before he claps his hands together and touches one of the pieces of Armour In a display of blue lightning, both Kushina and Kyuubi are reassembled like new. Walking out of the door, the Armour trio follows after him. Once at the stairway, Kushina's kanji lights up and she sees countless alchemic circles and transmutation arrays etched all over the walls and even in the stairway.

"This entire place is rigged with alchemic circles." Kushina says breathlessly; well as breathless as a suit of Armour can be.

"That's right, my sister was immobile due to the disease, so I rigged this place with transmutation circles so that her bed could go anywhere; from upside on the walls, to the patio. I wanted her to experience mobility even if her body couldn't move. Now that she's gone though, they remain inactive; I prefer to walk with my own two legs. It's a Philosophy passed down from Edward and Alphonse Elric. One lost his ability to use Alchemy, but still managed to bring beauty in this world with his own bare hands. He constructed Fullmetal City before his passing; that's where we are right now. Dublith is located to the South of here, about 15 miles away." Cyrus explains, leading the trio out of the massive tower and into Fullmetal City. The trio couldn't believe the architect, the sky high metal towers, the homes made of metal blocks; they could see why it earned it's name. (When you think of Fullmetal City, think of how cities of our time look.)

"Eh I've destroyed bigger." Kyuubi says, not really understanding the fascination behind human made things. He was a chakra beast, a force of nature. Trees, mountains and seas amazed the great beast more, but humans seemed to be more interested in things they create.

"Attempt that and you'll find yourself at the mercy of the Animated Unit, or suits with the souls of some of the greatest State Alchemist to ever walk Amestris. There are the Silver Suit, who uses blades, Crimson Suit, the infamous Solf J Kimblee. The Crystal Suit, able to cancel most, if not all, transmutations with a single touch. The Sewing Life Suit, capable of merging and separating biological make-up, or to put it simply, make Chimeras or break down a human to its basic components. The Freezing Suit, the name says it all, The Silver Bullet Suit, who can create Golems and finally the Iron Blood Suit, capable of turning the environment into cannons and other weapons." Cyrus explains, giving the trio a tour of the massive city. He showed them the city's many theaters, restaurants, attractions and the like. Naruto felt so small looking up at the buildings; getting the strange feeling they'd fall on him at any minute.

"Dattebayo... I've never seen buildings so high before!" Naruto says in wonder, causing Cyrus to chuckle.

"Oh and why don't you tell me about your world otherworlder?" Cyrus asks, feeling his curiosity reach it's boiling point.

"Sure, well we come from a world of Shinobi called the Five Great Shinobi Nations, in this world is my home; Konohagakure. It's a great place to live, there's our leader, the Sandaime Hokage, he always takes care of me and the people. Iruka sensei, who taught me tons about being a ninja, but that's about it." Naruto says, his once chipper and thrilled tone taking on a darker one by the end; something that doesn't go unnoticed by Cyrus.

"Shinobi huh? I've researched them, once when my Unit had to fight a few of them; though they were nothing like the legends. More like posers, anyway why not show me some of your shinobi arts?" Cyrus asks, eager to see a new form of power; it's not everyday aliens land on your planet and take over suits of armor. Naruto eagerly tries his Kage Bunshin jutsu, but nothing seems to happen. Upon trying his other jutsus, they all seem to fail.

"Just as I thought. Even otherworlders have to pay a price to see the Truth." Cyrus explains, chuckling at Naruto, who keeps on trying to do jutsus.

"What do you mean a price is paid?" Kushina asks, but it is Kyuubi who answers her.

"Just what he means. The Truth is really the darkness, or the negativity in a person's heart. In order to discourage alchemist from 'Playing God' it takes a person's most prized attributes. In the boy's case, it took his ninjutsu abilities. For Kushina, it took her fuuinjutsu and for me, it took seven of my tails." Kyuubi explains, impressing Cyrus.

"You sure know a lot for an otherworlder." Cyrus says, the Kyuubi just chuckles.

"In my world, I am the Kyuubi no Yoko, a being made of pure energy. I've been to countless different worlds in my time. There are eight others like me, but I am the strongest. Our power is based on how many tails we have, so you can imagine my annoyance at Truth for taking so much of my power. Luckily for us, the toll wasn't too steep; he could have done much worse. Though I suppose it is because we are not from here and didn't perform Human Transmutation in order to each the Gate of Truth." Kyuubi explains. Cyrus nods his head in agreement, that sounded about right.

"You say that every State Alchemist has to see the Gate in order to enroll right?" Naruto asks, wondering what the man gave up in order to become a State Alchemist.

"That's true, for most people. I inherited my ancestors, Edward Elric and Alphonse Elric's notes on Alchemy and have been studying them since I was a boy. I honestly didn't need to open the Gate in order to join. No, I didn't see the gate until I performed Human Transmutation on Trish, my price was turning my sister into a monster. My most prized attribute was my sister; I held her above all else. That's Truth's cruel irony for you though; anyway we've reached the Library." Cyrus says, standing in front of a four story library.

"I must say, this place is even bigger than the Library in Konoha." Kushina says, eager to go in and learn as much as you could about Alchemy. There was something about symbols that fascinated her, maybe it was because every symbol has a deeper meaning than most people can comprehend; who knows really, maybe it was an Uzumaki thing. Once inside, the trio are greeted by another suit of armor, this one is made of pure crystals.

"Ah Cyrus san, I see you have made three new animated suits to add to the unit. Tell me, whose souls are inside?" the Crystal suit asks, his voice sounding elderly, yet warm and polite.

"Believe or not, these three are from another world completely different from our own. They came here to help us with our Dublith problem." Cyrus explains, no point in keeping it secret right? the Crystal suit only laughs at his long time friend and fellow scholar.

"My what an imagination you have today. It's good to see you back in your element for once." the Crystal suit says with a chuckle. Honestly, suits of armor from another world?

"He speaks the truth Crystal san. My name is Uzumaki Kushina and this is my son, Uzumaki Naruto and the Kyuubi. We come from a world of Shinobi and we have come to help you deal with your chaotic Philosopher's Stone. I know how that sounds and you don't have to believe us, but it's true." Kushina says, with equal, if not greater, conviction that her son. Crystal couldn't find any lies in her words; she truly believed what she was saying.

"I see, well if they're here to help that's great! Tell me, what are type of alchemy can you three use?" Crystal suit asks, causing all three to rub the back of their heads sheepishly.

"Aside from going through the Gate to get here, they have little to no understanding of alchemy; well the Kyuubi might. I was actually hoping you and Sewing-Life Suit could help me with their education. So long as we keep reinforcing the barrier every 48 hours, we should have plenty of time." Cyrus says.

"It figures, the help would need help. Well right this way then; the only reason I agreed to become a suit is to help as many people as I could." Crystal suit says, before he leads them to a table and begins their education...

**Two months later...**

"What is the foundation of Alchemy?" Cyrus asks, quizzing Naruto on Alchemy. This was pretty much how Naruto spent his time since arriving; studying, studying and finally pop quizzes. He had studied chemistry, ancient alchemical theory, and of course...

"The foundation of Alchemy is Equivalent Exchange, which states 'In order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost." Naruto drolls, hand on his helmet to keep him awake. He had Equivalent Exchange beaten into his head so much, he could swear he felt a tumor growing.

"How many parts are there to this law and what are those parts called?" Cyrus asks, while reading a book on transmutating air.

"There are two parts to Equivalent Exchange and they are as followed: The Law of Conservation of Mass, which states that energy and matter can neither be created from nothing nor destroyed to the point of elemental nonexistence. In other words, to create an object weighing one kilogram, at least one kilogram of material is necessary and destroying an object weighing one kilogram would reduce it to a set of parts, the sum of which would weigh one kilogram. Then there's the Law of Natural Providence, which states that an object or material made of a particular substance or element can only be transmuted into another object with the same basic makeup and properties of that initial material. In other words, an object or material made mostly of water can only be transmuted into another object with the attributes of water." Naruto says, almost robotically.

"Good, now that we've got a better understanding of how alchemy works and the laws it follows, try to draw this *shows a page in his book with a swirling transmutation circle* just like in this book." Cyrus instructs. Feeling eager to get to the practical aspect of alchemy, Naruto hastily draws the symbol and hands it to Cyrus.

"No, no no! This sucks, draw it again." Cyrus says, looking at the transmutation circle Naruto drew and balls it up, much to the ire of the blonde suit.

"Grrr this is STUPID! Why make me draw this? I can perform alchemy without drawing these damn things so why what's the point?" Naruto asks, getting feed up with his instructor. He wished he got the Crystal or Sewing-Life Suits, but nooo! The Crystal suit took a shining to Kushina and insisted it be the one to teach her. So far, they were already going over counter transmutations, Alkahestry, and chemical reactions. His mother seemed to absorb the information like a sponge, something Crystal suit found remarkable. The Kyuubi began learning from the Sewing-Life suit, since both dealt with destruction transmutations. That left Naruto with Cyrus, who was a real tight-ass when it came to the basics.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times! You have the ability of Reconstruction, that means you can rebuild substances into different forms and you won't be able to do that until you've memorized the transmutation circles I've shown you. If you just cross your fingers and start firing alchemy everywhere, you're bound to be outclassed by a real alchemist; not someone who just inherited from a magical gate." Cyrus explains, before he has Naruto try to draw the circle again. Unknown to Naruto, Cyrus was trying to teach him various transmutation circles in order to expand his arsenal of alchemy. Though most alchemist stick to only one field of study, Naruto was a fresh mind; kind of. With enough study, he could possibly use the Four Classical Elements (Fire, Air, Water and Earth) and even the Three Essential Principles (Salt, Sulfur and Mercury.); though maybe he was going overboard. He'd start him out with air and see where it goes.

**Four months later...**

The armor trio learned much in their six months of being in Fullmetal City. They really took a shine to the townspeople, who seemed rather animated by them; then again the animated suits were a symbol of peace in the city. It was kind of how shinobi were seen in their time. Children seemed to folk to Kushina whenever she had the spare time to get out of the library. She didn't mind, since it gave her a chance to imagine life with Naruto at their ages; it was one of the few joys she got. She was a natural for Alkahestry, finding an almost unnatural bond with the Dragon's Pulse and her loving nature. the Crystal suit dubbed her The Life Bringing Alchemist, due to her healing abilities. She could heal minor to serious injuries, including stabs wounds, cuts, bruises and even reattach limbs (so long as she had the severed limb to reconnect.) Not only that, but she could transmute her armor into chains and use them effectively in battle. Her chains always had a few counter transmutation circles to cancel certain transmutations.

The elderly seemed to favor Naruto the most, he really enjoyed helping them even with the most tedious of chores. He remembers learning in Kirigakure that D rank missions were pretty much like this; so it made him feel like a ninja. The Kyuubi spent most of his free time, roaming around, missing the open air and scents of the world; too bad he couldn't smell or feel in this form. In the six months they spent here, Naruto learned how to duplicate his Kage Bunshin jutsu into Alchemy (though he needed a lot of scrap metal) and was decent enough at using air alchemy, that Cyrus dubbed him The Whirlwind Alchemist. He could glide a few feet in the air, create miniature wind vortexes (think of that one jutsu Kakashi used to beat Zabuza the first time, but with wind.) and even surround his hands with powerful winds to add to his punches.

The Kyuubi, while it was more him relearning old material, but once he did he was a force to be reckon with; even with only two tails. Unlike the others, who used tectonic energy from the Earth, Kyuubi relied on his own tails' energy to transmute, giving his attacks a much more destructive quality to them. Once his tails were used up, however; he would settle for using tectonic energy. He was dubbed the Demon Alchemist. Though they had only been there six months, they really felt they were making good strides, but it wasn't anywhere near good enough to bring down Trish. They were all in the basement of Cyrus' Observatory, where the battle field was located.

"All of you lack battle experience with Alchemy. Normally, we would have you go through a few months of intense physical training, but you're suits of armor and were all shinobi, so we can skip that and get to the fun stuff. You may come in Crimson suit, Freezing Suit and Silver Suit." Cyrus declares. From the Colosseum like gates, three suits set out, each befitting their names. The Crimson suit was tall, pure crimson, with violet trimmings and had on each hand a triangle inscribed in a circle with alchemical symbols in the center of each - the sun symbol (signifying gold) on his right palm and the moon symbol (signifying silver) on his left. The Freezing suit was icy blue, with a bulky appearance and two large tanks of water on his back, with transmutation circles on his gauntlet like arms. The Silver suit was silver (think of Al's suit, but shorter), almost as short as Kyuubi, when it stood on bipedal and had a blade in place of one of its legs.

"So these are the new models I've heard so much about?" the Crimson suit asks, sizing up the trio.

"Yep, they've come a long way in the six months they've been operational, but they still need experience using combat alchemy. It's with that in mind, that I want you all to try your damn best to reduce them to scrap metal." Cyrus says. If they could smile, they would; so they just settled for maniacal laughter.

"Oh it'll be my pleasure!" Silver suit says, before overlaps his hands and blue lightning dances through the air. Once it stops, blades jut out of every inch of the Silver suit's body, before he spins on his blade leg and rushes towards the trio. Kyuubi decides to start things off by slamming one of his tails at the spinning suit. Once the tail clashes with Silver suit, a ray of red lighting shoots out and spreads across its body, causing it to not only stop, but for several of its limbs to explode.

"I say, this is rather familiar." Silver suit says, remembering a certain fellow, who had used similar alchemy to kill not only him, but other State Alchemists as well. Wanting to finish this swiftly, Kyuubi slams his other tail down and thrusts it towards Silver suit, who spins out of the way. With his hands and arms destroyed, Silver suit overlaps his feet, blue lightning dances from his feet to where his arms were. In a dazzling display of shattered metal and blue lighting, Silver suit's arms are reconstructed, along with his full body blades.

"It's not everyday I'm allowed out of the factory, so you better make this fun for me, new model." Crimson suit says, putting his palms together the two triangles (the left pointing up to represent fire and the right pointing down to represent water) combine to form a hexagram which initiates the transmutation. Slamming his hands on the ground, blue lightning races towards Kushina and forms a hexagon around her that lights up from the unstable imbalance of energy. Recognizing what would happen, Kushina leaps from the hexagon, just as it explodes in a mighty roar of power. Before the Crimson suit can clap his hands together, Kushina makes the rat sign and transmutes her right arm into chains, that race towards the Crimson suit and impales him through his left hand.

"My what aim you have and your mobility is to be noted and praised. Yes, this will definitely be a lot of fun." Crimson suit says, before blue lightning races from his palm and through the chain, causing it to turn black, just before it explodes. The miniature explosion is enough to blow off Kushina's arm, but using the metal from their surroundings and a quick transmutation, her arm is as good as new and she's ready to fight anew.

Meanwhile, the Freezing suit and Naruto were displaying why they were given their names; in a clash of Classical Elements. The Freezing suit unleashes a jet of water from the palm of his hands and transmutes it into a barrage of ice shards, that Naruto easily dodges and cross his fingers. In front of him, wind begins to pick up and spiral in a circle, before a tunnel of wind roars towards Freezing suit and sends him crashing into a wall.

"Ah I love the sounds of alchemy in the morning." Cyrus says, before he leaves the room and heads for downtown Fullmetal City, in order to investigate some rumors he heard. Once in the downtown area, he is surprised to see no one outside; no kids playing or elderly feeding birds. It was like a ghost town and he knew why. For the past two weeks, people were coming down with some mysterious illness. They'd be healthy one day and the next, they'd be dead. There were no signs of anything a foul, in fact, autopsies showed nothing wrong with the victims; it was almost like their souls were forced from their bodies...

**Meanwhile, just outside of Fullmetal City...**

In the crisp, summer, morning red smoke rises from the ground and out steps Nodnarb.

"Finally! Jeez, I can't believe it took me six months to find someone who died of natural causes close to Fullmetal City. Honestly, I've never seen a death rate so low before in my life!" Nodnarb complains. As a Death Slinger, he was allowed to roam any dimension he wanted, without permission from the Guardian's of that dimension; so long as there was death in the dimension. Since just about every dimension had death, his roaming range was vast. The problem with this world was Alkahetsry; the accursed art kept people alive longer than they should. Sure there was plenty of death in this dimension, but he wanted to be as close to Dublith as possible and Fullmetal City was as close as you could get. The problem was Fullmetal City had the best Alchemist, medicine and other arts used to prolong human life; making finding someone who died a real challenge. Suddenly, Nodnarb hears a noise, that sounded like fierce winds, coming from the nearby forests. With nothing better to do, he investigates the sound and comes across a strange sight. There stood a small girl, with red hair and yellow eyes, literally sucking the souls from some unfortunate people.

"Well, this explains why they body count has increased, but the soul intake has remained unchanged." Nodnarb says, loud enough for the girl to hear him and turn her attention to him.

"Another treat has walked right into my hands! Oh Mother will be so happy once she sees all the souls, Decay has collected for her." Decay says with sick glee, drool hanging from her mouth.

"You're a gluttonous little shit aren't ya? I'm normally against killing small children, especially girls, but I'll make an exception for you. Ya see, soul stealing his my job." Nodnarb says, before he summons his scythe in a plume of gray smoke and readies himself.

* * *

Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas (Ever) everyone! To show you all Christmas cheer, I have given you another chapter before Christmas! Consider this your gift from me, my loyal fans! I hope you all enjoy this chapter as it was a labor of love :) Happy Holidays everyone and Merry Christmas to all!


	9. Death Comes Knocking

Hello all. Well tragedy has struck and I would like to take the time to say RIP to my dear friend. She was a victim of mass propaganda and false teachings. She took her life December 28th 2013 and I speak for all the loved ones when I say if you're thinking about suicide, please reconsider. No matter how bad things may seem, no matter how hopeless, there is always, ALWAYS a way out of it. Take a note from Naruto and never give up, always have hope in your heart. There ARE people out there that love you and cherish you for all your faults and imperfections. You are all capable of being beautiful, talented and loved people. Whenever it seems like the world is against you, repeat these words: I am lovable, loved and loving. No homo to all the guys out there.

* * *

Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "…"_

_**Spirit speech "..." **_

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "…"**

Hand seals/kanji: Tori酉(Bird), I 亥(Boar), Inu 戌(Dog), Tatsu 辰(Dragon), Ushi 丑(Ox), Tora 寅(Tiger), Mi 巳(Snake), Ne 子(Rat), Uma 午(Horse), Saru 申(Monkey), U卯 (Hare), Hitsuji未 (Ram)

* * *

Naruto the Seal Slinger

Death comes knocking

"Fifth match, Tenten and Temari, please step forward." Hayate calls, reading the two names that showed on the board inside the arena of the Tower of Death, inside the Forest of Death. Both kunoichi leap from the railing and land in the center of the arena in their own graceful way. Temari glides down on her giant fan, while Tenten simply races and comes to an sudden halt; in a screech. After the disgraceful display between Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka, she was determined to show Konoha had some great kunoichi. Ever since Naruto's lineage was made public knowledge, everyone seemed to take their shinobi careers more seriously; except those two apparently.

The most effected by the loss of the hyperactive blonde, the Sandaime lost his smile and seemed to adopt the mindset of a war veteran. While he was still firmly against war, he made sure Naruto's graduating class would be ready should war come knocking at their gates. The Academy curriculum, though highly opposed by the instructors and a few concerned parents, received major changes. Many believed the Will of Fire had darkened and began to call it the Will of the Inferno. Things like leaf balancing, tree climbing and even water walking were all covered in the Academy now. Instead of using training dummies, students were forced to throw kunai and shuriken into the bodies of, sometimes live, prisoners of heinous crimes. The lesson being they needed to experience putting weapons inside a real human body. The idea of death was drilled into their heads; they understood that death was a part of being shinobi. In fact, part of the Genin Exam was to kill something; whether it be an animal or a shinobi on death-row.

Both kunoichi stare the other down, their minds racing over every small detail they could see. While Tenten's stance seems more open, Temari stands with an air of confidence about her, hands on her shapely hips and a smirk plastered on her face. Glancing to make sure both were ready, Hayate calls begin, with that Temari flexes, causing Tenten to leap away to gain some distance. Looking between the both of them, Hayate can't tell if they're being cautious or they hadn't heard him.

"What's wrong? Please begin." Hayate says, reminding them the battle had begun. Temari's smirk only widens, chuckling to herself at some inside joke.

"Trying to observe me huh? This is just a warning, but if I start attacking, you're going to be finished in a second." Temari says with the utmost confidence in her words. Taking a step forward, Tenten expertly takes one back, only adding to the Suna kunoichi's mind game. Taking another menacing step forward, Temari stomps, kicking up some dirt and places her hands on her hips.

"You're not skilled enough to see how I attack. So stop trying to look good." Temari says smugly, before she points to herself with her thumb.

"I don't mind, come on." she says, giving off a slight air of KI, in the form of a light breeze.

"You sure seem confident." Tenten says with a smirk of her own. Wanting to wipe the smirk off the Suna kunoichi's face, Tenten leaps into the air, pulls out a handful of shuriken and hurls them at Temari with precision! Temari makes no move to dodge, in fact, with a trained eye, one could see her flicker for a brief second. The shuriken seem to vary off course and lodge harmlessly away from Temari, shocking Tenten once she lands on the ground.

"I missed, but that can't be." Tenten says, looking at Temari and then to her shuriken. She had prided herself on her marksmanship and knew she threw them so they would hit the girl in crippling areas.

"What's wrong? Was that attack to test me?" Temari asks smugly, enjoying the look of shock on her opponent's face. "Or did you shrink up in fear and lost your aim?" she adds to really piss off the girl.

"Here I thought I was going to have some fun, but I guess I shouldn't expect that much from you." Temari says to add icing on the cake.

_"Calm down, don't let her provoke me. There are three tiles separating us. If she's dodging it, I'll just make sure she can't dodge."_ Tenten converses with herself, formulating her plot. Meanwhile, Temari was also devising her own plot.

_"She's measuring the distance between her and me. The next attack must be big." _Temari deduces, her smirk only growing in anticipation; perhaps her brother's viciousness was rubbing off on her. Temari places her lead hand on her fan, Tenten smirks realizing the fan must have been what caused her to miss. Leaping into the air, Tenten pulls a scroll from her pouch.

"How about this!" Tenten exclaims, before she unravels the scroll and twirls in the air, forming an oval like pattern around her. Using her chakra to not only spin the paper fast, but also unseal various ninja tools, like kunai, swords, sickles and other projectiles, and sends them crashing down on Temari, who doesn't show the slightest hint of fear; only her undying confidence. Opening her fan to reveal a single purple orb, the weapons fall harmless to the ground, along with Tenten and her used scroll. Temari stands in her same stop, one hand on her, partially, open fan and the other on her hip, the same smirk on her face.

"My weapons... What's the trick behind her fan?..." Tenten asks lowly, mostly to herself.

"This is the first start. There are two more. When you see the three stars, you will lose." Temari says. Despite what many believed, she had been analyzing her opponent expertly. She knew the girl was at a huge disadvantage against her, being a ranged fighter who used projectiles. Unless she had some katon ninjutsu, she would lose.

Upon hearing that, Tenten struggles with her next decision. Sure it would probably gain her the win, but she had wanted to save it for the real thing, instead of showing it in the Prelims, but she didn't have much choice it seemed. Resolving her decision, and unknowingly her fate, Tenten pulls out two scrolls and holds them out towards Temari, who scoffs.

"Whatever you do is usless." Temari says. Tenten places the two small scrolls in an upright position on the floor.

Tiger, Dragon, Monkey, Hare, Snake, cross arms "Twing Rising Dragons!" Tenten procliams. When activated, the two scrolls release massives amount smoke, that cover the arena and causes Temari to shield her eyes, while also flying and spinning into the air in the shape of two dragons made of smoke. Tenten then jumps between the two scrolls, and starts to rapidly summon and throw all sorts of weapons as a powerful barrage at Temari.

"No matter how you increase the number, it'll end the same way. Second star!" Temari declares, opening her far to the second star and unleashes twisters of wind that cause the weapons to once again fall harmlessly to the ground.

"I'm not done!" Tenten yells, revealing the many ninja wires attached to her weapons and rises the weapons in the air once more. Slamming her weapons down on Temari, Tenten smirks believing she's won, until Temari reveals the final star and unleashes a gust of wind that not only blows away her weapons but Tenten as well.

With a smirk, Temari closes her fan and seemingly disappears once it fully closes and vanishes with her. Tenten scans the area for her foe, more than a little afraid her best attack was made useless by the Suna kunoichi.

"Here." Temari says, hovering over Tenten menacingly before she lands in front of her and catches her closed fan.

"Whirlwind attack (Ninpou: Kamatachi)!" Temari declares waving her mighty fan and unleashes a vortex of howling winds that engulf poor Tenten in a twister of razor sharp winds that begin to rip her body to shreds; Temari purposely kept the attack from killing her, but wanted her to suffer. Once the wind calmed down and died, Tenten falls right on top of Temari's fan, coughing out some blood. The observers were angered by her lack of respect and cruelty shown between supposed allies. Having found the encounter boring, Temari shocks everyone when she tosses Tenten off her fan and right for the discard, yet still dangerous, weapons. Lee raced to try to catch his teammate, knowing he could easily cover the distance, but something happened. A phantom like wind seemed to carry Tenten faster than expected and caused her to land on her own weapons, causing a spray of blood to stain the floor.

"TENTEN!" Her team roars, racing over to the girl they had known for a year. The once proud Konoha kunoichi could do nothing as blood filled her mouth and began to drown her in it. She gurgles and spits out some blood, but it soon fills again. The pain was blinding, but she could not scream. She could feel the blood leaving her body at dangerous rates and tears fall freely down her face. Just before her world was consumed by darkness, she heard the concern and sorrow in her teams' voices and died knowing she was at least respected by them...

Opening her eyes with a scream, Tenten finds herself in the darkest abyss known as Limbo. Checking herself, she could see no signs of her injuries, but the transparent glow about her made her realize her situation. Knowing she had died, before she could even make it to Chunin had filled her with shame. To think she was killed by her own weapons; it didn't seem fair. She had tried so hard her entire life! Ever since her mother went MIA and her father killed during the Kyuubi attack, Tenten had been orphaned. When she went into the Academy, she didn't have a clan to teach her and could only go off her role model, Tsunade Senju. Having tried and failed at being a medical nin, she had found she had a thing for fuuinjutsu and developed her own fighting style. It was not easy, but she had made Kunoichi of the Year several times and even was runner up for Shinobi of the Year, with Neji Hyuuga beating her with his superior taijutsu. Being paired up with Neji and Lee, along with Guy seemed a match made in heaven. Despite Neji being a prick, she admired his raw talent and loved Guy and Lee's work ethic. Guy had made sure to teach the youths what he knew and help where they needed it; the man was one of the best senseis.

It seemed that not even the best could turn a nothing orphan into a legendary kunoichi. Before she could sulk anymore, an oppressive force surrounds her in a cloak of darkness. From the darkness, a cloaked, lanky, being stretches forth and looms over the terrified girl. Rising its clawed and decayed hand, a scythe appears in its hand, letting her know Death was here to claim her soul. She could only look in horror as the Grim Reaper bares over her, ready to end her life. Suddenly, the reaper's head is cut off by a dagger of light, causing it to fade into the darkness. Once the reaper was gone, Tenten gazes at a mysterious dark man with dreadlocks and blades at the tips. The dark man has grin so big his eyes scrunch up and gives him a dark and creepy smile.

"Hello, my name is Mr. Misfit, but you can call me Step Daddy." Mr. Misfit says, offering his hand to the terrified kunoichi. The way the guy suddenly appeared, took out a Shinigami and now seemed to be offering her help was just too good to be true. She had the vague impression she was making a deal with the devil...

**Meanwhile with Nodnarb and Decay...**

The little girl smiles evilly before she takes off in a show of speed and aims a fist at Nodnarb's head, who just readies his scythe. In one clean swoop, Decay's arm is lopped right off from the shoulder in a shower of red goo too thick to be blood, but she doesn't scream. In fact, she manages to grab his arm, with her remaining hand and, to his surprise, his arm turns black and decays off like ash.

Not wanting to be reduced to ash, Nodnarb plants a firm snap kick to the little girl's chest and sends her flying deeper into the forest. Taking this time to do some damage control, the dark guy notices the corpses around him and smiles devilishly. Turning his scythe into heavy chains, the dark guy swings it before he wraps it around the arm of one of the corpses and then jams it inside his missing arm socket.

"Hex Magic: Recycle!" Nodnarb chants. From both ends of the chains, black smoke begins to rise and slowly consumes the corpse's arm. Before more can be seen, Decay comes rushing out of the forests, red lightning surrounding her missing arm and slowly begins to reconstruct it from the bone to flesh. Needing more time to complete his spell, Nodnarb uses the corpse like a wrecking ball on a chain and tries to slam the little girl with it. Decay simply uses her renewed arm to block the incoming corpse and red lightning shoots into its body and turns everything but its arm into ash.

"My name is more than just a title. It'd be foolish of me to explain my powers to you, but you've seen enough to be a possible threat to mother. That arm of yours was just the beginning, I plan to turn the rest of you to ash and devour your soul before it can depart." Decay taunts, her smirking never faltering. Nodnarb didn't seem the less bit intimidated by the little demon.

"You know it's very unlady like to devour a guy's soul, but then again maybe you're just an early bloomer. Ironic how women suck the souls out of men and here I am fighting a little girl with the same power; just my luck I guess." Nodnarb says, using the talking time to finally complete his spell. The black smoke completely engulfs the severed arm and then, Decay watches as Nodnarb's arm is also reconstructed and the severed arm is broken down until it's nothing.

"You're not the only one with a few tricks." Nodnarb says, turning the chain back into a scythe and rushes the little girl, who meets him halfway. Once within range, Decay opens her mouth, abnormally, wide and unleashes a stream of departed souls from deep within her, that decays all within its path. Jumping over the howling stream, Nodnarb does a twirl in the air and slashes Decay's head clean off her shoulders in a spray of her strange blood that splashes on him. Landing on the ground, Nodnarb picks up Decay's severed head.

"Hex Magic: Confine." Nodnarb chants, forming a small black box of energy. Jamming the head against the black box, it slowly, but surely confines it inside the box. Examining the strange blood against his fingers, Nodnarb's eyes gleam with understanding.

"This stuff isn't blood. More like raw spiritual energy, or chakra to be precise. I'd say that thing is made of pure Root chakra, which means..." Nodnarb says with a sigh. As if to finish his statement, red lightning surrounds where Decay's head used to be and reconstructs it good as new. Twirling his scythe, he takes up his stance and awaits her next move.

"Are you a Homunculus too?" Decay asks, staring wide eyed at Nodnarb, who flexes his renewed arm. No human could do what he had just done, had Mother given her a new brother without her knowing?

"Homunculus, what the hell? Wait a minute." Nodnarb says, holding out one finger, while he digs through his pockets for something. Intrigued by the strange guy, Decay flops into a crossed legged sitting position and waits for him with wonder in her eyes. Finally finding what he was looking for, Nodnarb pulls out a huge book and turns to a certain page.

"An artificially created human through the means of Alchemy. No little girl I am not an Homunculus, I am what is known as a Rouge Slinger." Nodnarb explains, he would much rather not fight an artificially enhanced little girl if he didn't have to. Decay looks a little disappointed to hear that, now she had to kill him.

"Awww, it would have been so cool to have a little brother... Oh well I guess, looks like you have to die." Decay says with regret, before she opens her mouth wide.

"I guess you'll never know how awesome Rouge Slingers are." Nodnarb says, throwing his arms up and turning his back to the Homunculus. What the little girl didn't know, was that thanks to his book, he knew all he needed to about the creature. He was from another dimension and had access to abilities the girl could never comprehend. Like his ability to see into a being's soul and while it was a wild collection of souls, the girl still had a soul.

_"There's nothing young souls like more than a little mystery."_ Nodnarb says to himself. Even though he could feel the wind begin to pull him backwards, he is confident in his gambit.

"Hmmm, your abilities are interesting... Alright tell me what you are booboo." Decays says with a giggle. Several tick marks bugle from Nodnarb's head, his eyes go blank with rage.

"What did you just call me?" Nodnarb asks calmly, but even Decay shivers a bit at the oppressive aura around him; giving him a cloak of darkness and death.

"I called you booboo, you know because you're brown like it. At least you don't smell like it booboo." Decay says with a giggle, before she chants the name booboo over and over again. The cloak of darkness twirls around menacingly, and coils around her mouth, silencing effectively.

"You will not be calling me that." Nodnarb says calmly, before he uncoils Decay's mouth. Rubbing her sore mouth, the girl sticks her tongue out at him, showing where her soul is located. If he wanted to, he could easily rip that thing out of her mouth over and over again until she died... But he just wasn't the type of guy to do that to a little girl, if he didn't have to.

"That was mean! Look I'll call ya whatever I want, because I'm a princess and you're well... *cloak of darkness hangs over her* How about BB?" Decay asks, flashing her soulful eyes at him. Damn, he was a sucker for eyes...

"Fine, do you want to know about Rouge Slingers or not?" Nodnarb asks, somewhat ashamed of himself for caving so easily. Decay's answer is to jump up and down with glee, a bright smile on her face.

"Yeah yeah, come on BB tell me, TELL ME!" Decay exclaims! Nodnarb sighs, envying her energy.

"A Rouge Slinger is a being who, at a time, had made a deal with Death for immortality and power. The deal was, if she gave them power, they would forever be her messengers of death. The more they kill, they stronger and darker they become. Normally these beings are called Death Slingers." Nornarb explains, having the little girl follow his every word.

"Death Slingers BB?" Decay asks, fascinated by the strange, yet wise guy. In her short lifespan, she had come to see humans and animals as nothing more than food, or annoyances. They seemed so fragile, flawed and limited. Even the smart ones seemed to still be afflicted by the same seven sins, that Father had almost used to annihilate them all. This guy was different though, he seemed to have Pride, but not too much. He seemed to have balanced himself, much like her own Mother.

"Yes, in fact every Rouge Slinger was a Death Slinger at some point, even I. The difference is, while a Death Slinger serves Death, a Rouge Slinger has severed all ties with her and made her an enemy. Essentially, Death is out to take old BB's soul." Nodnarb says nonchalantly, as if it were no big deal. Decay couldn't believe what she was told.

"That's terrible! Why would you serve Death in the first place ya dumby?!" Decay yells, somewhat outraged he would get himself into such a mess. She had hoped she could help her and Mother with their plans.

"Hey, it was either work for her or die, and let's just say I didn't like where I was going. Too bad I traded one Hell for another, it seems in the end Death screwed me pretty good." Nodnarb says, rubbing his hand through his hair in slight embarrassment. If given the choice, would you choose slavery or death? It wasn't SO bad being Death's slave, she gave you power and eternal life, but only a true demon would follow that path forever.

"So you're dead?" Decay asks, deducing that much from his tale.

"Yes, you see this form is but my default form my soul has taken. I long since lost my original body, but I survived by assimilating the bodies of everyone I kill, or have killed or is killed. You'd be surprised how many unmarked grave sites there are in every world and every dimension." Nodnarb explains his basic origin. There was more to him sure, but he figured that was enough to keep the girl entertained long enough to finish his object.

"Wow, we're not so different then! See I was born from the decay of Mother's innards. I'm pretty on the outside, but inside is a festering monster of decay and badness!" Decay says, wiggling her fingers and snarling her teeth like a monster, raaaawr! Nodnarb can't help but chuckle at the little girl before him; she was right in a way. Both of them were capable of spreading decay if they wanted; maybe he could tame her.

"I've seen for myself. It's safe to say if you don't unleash this monster, it'll eat you up correct?" Nodnarb asks, with a warm smile. Decay thinks the smile is a bit foreign to his face, but smiles anyway; it was contagious.

"Pretty much. Mother sent me out her so that I could unleash the monster on all the humans! We're going to make a world filled with Decay, Sickness, Famine and Death. That way I don't ever have to be eaten!" Decay says, before she looks at him with soulful eyes.

"Will you help me BB?" Decays asks, really wanting to keep him around. He was different than anyone she ever met, he was dark, tortured and yet gentle and warm at the same time. Nodnarb gives it some thought, scratching the hairs on his chin.

"Sure." Nodnarb says simply. His reward is for her to glomp him with all her might. She had been wanting to hug the gentle soul before, but hearing that made her finally do it!

"Yay, Mother will be so pleased!... Maybe you'll be our Father, if you play your cards right." Decay says, letting go of him and giving the dark guy a look over. He wasn't a God among men, but he wasn't an abomination either. He was handsomely cute, if that were such a thing.

"We can only hope." Nodnarb says, before he digs in his pockets and pulls out a vial of blood. Uncorking the little cork, the scent of blood fills the air, both inhale it deeply.

"Hmm I can't find the scent anywhere near here. Are you looking for this person BB, I'm sure I can help you find em." Decay says confidently. Nodnarb recorks the vial and places it back in his pocket. _"That's strange, I can sense his soul nearby, not hard to miss considering it's so bright. How have the Death Slingers NOT found this kid yet, she must be sending Ghouls after him. Death must be trippin' since I left."_

"No need, I know actually where he is. Want to accompany me on my journey?" Nodnarb asks, offering his hand to the little girl, who glomps on his back and climbs on his shoulder and bounces on it. Despite his slim build, the girl's weigh doesn't seem to bother him.

"You better believe I do! I need to see just how awesome Rouge Slingers are, I bet Homunculi are better." Decay says with a smug smirk. Nodnarb just chuckles darkly, "We'll see DeeDee." Decay gushes at the nickname and bounces with glee. With that, the duo make their way towards Fullmetal City...

* * *

This is a short, but sweet chapter I felt the need to get out. I really needed something to focus on, get my mind off things. I hope you enjoy the chapter and please remember my words and review if you like. Remember apathy is sometimes worse than speaking your mind.


	10. Sickness

Well after my recent success with the latest chapter with True Shinobi, I figured I would update my other story as well. While I don't have as many fans read this as they read True Shinobi, this story is still a baby where TS is nearly a yeard old; going on 8 months! It'll take some time I'm sure for this story to get out there and be noticed.

* * *

Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "…"_

_**Spirit speech "..."**_

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "…"**

Hand seals/kanji: Tori酉(Bird), I 亥(Boar), Inu 戌(Dog), Tatsu 辰(Dragon), Ushi 丑(Ox), Tora 寅(Tiger), Mi 巳(Snake), Ne 子(Rat), Uma 午(Horse), Saru 申(Monkey), U卯 (Hare), Hitsuji未 (Ram)

* * *

Naruto the Seal Slinger

Sickness

* * *

Tenten couldn't help but tumble a bit, due to the disorienting experience of traveling through dimensions. For an instant, she saw herself traveling across vast seas, then equally vast lands of strange cities made of metal and finally lush forests, until she came to a sudden stop at Destiny Institute.

"Welcome to your new home my dear. I hope you enjoy your stay as much as I will," Mr. Misfit says, a dark smile spread across his face. The grim smile did nothing to help Tenten's overwhelming sense of dread. She hadn't had any time to ask questions after agreeing to following the strange man, before he whisked her away via dimensional rift.

"What's going on here? Last thing I can remember is dying a painful death! Is this some test to see if I go to Pure World or Hell?" Tenten asks, trying to shake the sneaky suspicion it was the latter. This suspicion was only made worse by the dark man's ever growing smile.

"This, my dear Tenten, is known as Alterland! It is a place of sheer Will and creativity! Anything goes here, as departed souls come here to make a name for themselves; either in the name of Good or Evil. Depending on where you lean, you can find yourself closer to this Pure World you speak of, Hell or anywhere you can get your Will to go," Mr. Misfit explains, though seeing the confusion on Tenten's face tells him he needs more action than words.

From the palm of his hand, Tenten watches at first in mild curiosity that soon grows into wonder, as rays of yellow light shoot out and form a cube of beaming power. Tossing it behind his back, the cube explodes upon impact and leaves a strange crater in its wake. The trembling in the ground his enough to make the panda faced girl bounce around a bit.

"In this dimension, the inhabitants use either Seal Slinging or Death Slinging, in order to use the three aspects of life: Dimensions, Space and Time, or in Death Slinging's case: Death, Hex and Vex magic. With either one of these, one can manipulate the elements, their physical bodies, even their very souls to their Will. Become strong enough and you can even rewrite events in your life; maybe," Mr Misfit explains, seeing the genuine intrigue in the young woman's face; it amazed him how much she looked like her.

"So let me get this straight. I died and ended up in a place where I can learn how to manipulate space and time itself?" Tenten asks, only for the Professor of insanity to correct her quickly, "Don't forget dimensions."

"Right, so manipulate dimensions, time and space? This seems a little too good to be true." Tenten says, eyes narrowed at the dark man. While she doubted she could defeat him easily, she surely wouldn't go down without a fight. This fiery spirit only seemed to excite the man even more as his smile threatened to tear his face in half.

"While I didn't say it would be easy. The sheer amount of power these arts give is enough to kill those unworthy of wielding it. While anyone can come here and learn these arts, that doesn't mean everyone has what it takes to learn it. You shouldn't be too worried though, that Konoha's Will of Fire burns in you." Mr. Misfit says walking towards HQ, with Tenten following close behind.

"You seem familiar with my village's motto. That means you've been there before," Tenten says, trying to see just how much he knew about her home and its people.

"Why I would say I'm very familiar with Konoha and it's people or should I say one of its people. My lovely wife is from there and while her body broke in so many different ways, that will of hers stayed strong. Speaking of my wife," Mr. Misfit says as if on cue, Mrs. Misfit comes out of the HQ, shaking her head in annoyance.

"I swear to God Misfit, I'm not taking care of another stray..." she starts, but upon seeing just who her husband saved, Koomuru was glad her face was hidden by her mask. Quickly regaining herself, the woman who tamed Mr. Misfit, walks over to Tenten and her eyes scan all over her.

"I thought you might like to have another fellow Konoha kunoichi to train and love. I figured the girl could use a little fine tuning after getting her ass handed to her by that Suna kunoichi," Mr. Misfit says, stifling a chuckle. Upon hearing that, Mrs. Misfit stares at Tenten so intensely, the bun haired girl can feel the glare behind her mask.

"You were killed... By a Suna Kunoichi?" Mrs. Misfit asks, feeling not only outrage, but slight disappointment. _"How far has Konoha fallen? Suna was barely on the map even back when I was in that dimension."_

"Yeah so? I threw everything I had at her and she just blew it away with fuuton ninjutsu!..." Tenten says, losing her valor as her words sunk in. She was defeated so easily, they might as well have skipped her match. To the Suna Kunoichi, she was nothing. No contest, not even a challenge.

"Why didn't you counter with a katon ninjutsu? Surely you knew that Suna ninja rely heavily on fuuton ninjutsu, puppetry, clothing binding jutsu and poisons. What weapon did she use?" Mrs. Misfit grills, trying to pry whatever information she could out of Tenten, who was getting annoyed with all the questions.

"Why does it matter? I'm dead end of story..." Tenten says. Suddenly, Mrs. Misfit pulls out a tantoo from another dimension and rushes her quicker than she can keep up. On sheer instinct, Tenten pulls a kunai from her holster and guards as best she can. The two blades meet in a clash of sparks and grinding metal, Tenten struggles against the older women's strength.

"If this truly is the end, then why are you defending yourself?" Mrs. Misfit asks, confusing the bun haired girl. Why wouldn't she defend herself, she was about to...

"I think she gets it love," Mr. Misfit says, having enjoyed the short exchange. Mrs. Misfit leaps away from her and puts away her weapon. Realization dawned on Tenten, she was already dead and yet her mind refused to just give up. It still reacted like it would when she was alive. That was impossible though right? How could a spirit have a brain, a heart or any organ for that matter?

"The soul is an extremely complex life form. It can easily and greatly mimic all functions of a living physical body from sheer memory. Even though you clearly have no organs, your soul mimics these functions in order to keep things simple for ya. You can feel something beat in your chest, you can have series of thoughts and ideas; hell you could even have sex if you wanted," Mr. Misfit explains, giving his wife the 'you know what I mean' look.

Tenten tests this by feeling her arm, instead of going right through it, she can actually feel texture. She was warm and her skin? felt smooth and vibrant. She could feel the curves of her body, that seemed to have filled out more since her death. Now that she thought about it, she grew a little too and her body felt... Better than it ever did really.

"These things you feel are your 7 chakras active and alive. You see, the flesh you have now is nothing more than a shell created by the seven chakras. It offers you seven different layers, made to protect your chakras from exposure. With a little training, you could control the form of each of these layers," Mr. Misfit explains, reading from one of his own books about the subject. "_Where did he get that book from?"_

"None of that applies to you right now though. Now answer my question, what weapon did she use." Mrs. Misfit demands, black water begins to leak from her pores.

"She used a giant fan ok?" Tenten answers, feeling extremely weirded out by the sight. The water drains back inside of the masked woman and a bright aura emits from her.

"I see, those fan wielders are no pushovers. Lost quite a few men and women to a squad of four of those in the Third Shinobi World War. No fault on your part I suppose, so why not tell me all about it?" Mrs. Misfit asks. _"Man, death is nothing like I thought it would be..."_

**Meanwhile, with Naruto...**

"Come on dammit!" Naruto groans, trying to focus on the air currents around him with alchemy. Instead of shooting it out in wind tunnel, he tried to make it into a ball of whirling winds, only for the ball to erupt in his metal face. Kushina could only giggle at her son's attempts to form a functioning Rasengan out of alchemy and the tectonic energy within the strange planet, as opposed to sheer chakra. Being a Jinchuuriki in her past life, she was all too familiar with the Tailed Beast's Bijuudama; having fired a few herself.

She'd never take credit away from Minato for creating the hand seal-less jutsu, but it was only after seeing her fire one that he came up with the idea. She had been there, every step of the way, during the Yondaime's development stages; even giving him pointers along the way. Why not help her son out all the same?

"The rotation has to be even in both shape manipulation and the energy behind it. If it helps, I used to think of the whirlpools of Ushiogakure when forming a Bijuudama," Kushina explains, before the palm of her flashes with blue lightning and from it a ball of spiraling tectonic energy hovers and whirls. Naruto looked at the ball of power in awe, it never ceased to amaze him how much his mother seemed to know.

Without warning, the crimson suit rushes over to Kyuubi, a perfectly formed Rasengan in hand, and drives it into the fox's defensive tails. To his grimace, the spiraling ball whirls and reduces the tails to scrap metal and even tosses him across the arena. The former Jinchuuriki took great joy in sparring with the Bijuu, something the chakra beast also took some sick pleasure in. To the both of them, it was their way of releasing some of their pent up hostilities against one another.

Even though she knew it was not the beast's fault, it still took her life and the life of her dearest husband. In the same token, the Kyuubi was not only controlled like a puppet, then sealed into her clan, but the seal itself was worse than death, if the mighty beast could even die. At least with Naruto he had some space; however little it was. With their unspoken truce, red lightning and blue lightning met in a clash of dominance as Bijuudama met Tectonic Rasengan!

Cyrus looked at the trio in mild amazement. While they were no where near his level, they would make decent State Alchemists in their own rights. The shock wave from Kushina and Kyuubi's alchemy was enough to cause his clothes and hair to flail about wildly. Taking his eyes off the dueling suits of armor, he gazes at the sitting Naruto, trying his best to get his energy to go from a spiraling vortex into a ball; maybe if he tried to apply what he learned from Seal Slinging.

Visualizing the needed shape, "Spacial Seal: Mold!" the blonde roars, focusing yellow (Sacral) energy (chakra) from the palm of his hand and crafts a hollow, yellow, sphere. Satisfied with the shape, Naruto begins to add spiraling tectonic energy into the sphere, only for the two opposing forces to explode, this time taking his hand in a grinding like explosion. Kushina calls an end to their spar and rushes over to Naruto, bonking him on the head for his stupidity.

"You baka, you can't mix Seal Slinging with ANY other arts you may learn through the dimensions! Seals need Love, Chakra and Will to function and trying to add or skip steps by combining other arts with it will only cause trouble; as you surely learned," Kushina lectures. Her anger fading as she kneels next to her son and transmutes him a new hand.

"Sorry kaa-san, I figured I might be able to make a Rasengan out of the Mold seal, since making shapes is so much easier with it." Naruto says sheepishly. His mother emits a positive aura, remembering her own blunders at his age. Speaking of how old were they now anyway?

**Meanwhile, with Nodnarb...**

"So BB exactly why are you here?" Decay asks, riding piggyback and swinging her legs. The dark guy had been carrying her since they started walking and he hadn't complained once. She would never admit it out loud, but she felt safe and weightless while being carried. Not even her sisters ever held her, some for safety reasons, others not so much.

"If you must know, I have a Death Warrant for a man named Cyrus Elric, among other business. You see, a lot of people here have been cheating Death a long time now. Even though I gives zero fucks about that Bitch, the chance to collect strong souls and get stronger myself is too good to pass up," Nodnarb says, already coming up with different ways to accomplish his goal; then the real fun could begin.

"So killing makes you stronger too? Ya know, you're alright BB. I'm sure Mother will love you! That Cyrus guy is our mortal enemy and must be killed!" Decay declares, flailing her arms in a dramatic fashion and causing her to almost fall over; good thing Nodnarb caught her. Yep, she definitely felt safe.

"That makes us allies I suppose. I'm sure a Colleague of mine will be traveling with Cyrus. I believe his name is Naruto Uzumaki, try not to kill him please," Nodnarb says, it would be bad if the kid died on his watch. Decay pats her chin in a thinking gesture, trying to give it some serious thought.

"Well... I don't know about my Sisters, but if you want I'll try not to. If this Naruho guy tries something though, I'll bury him and give you his body!" Decay exclaims, hugging her new Brother for life. For a dead guy, she noticed he felt unbelievably warm, almost hot. Nodnarb chuckles at the young soul on his back, "Thanks for the consideration."

Suddenly, Nodnarb notices something strange about the wildlife; they were all dying. One by one, the creatures of the land and sky fell down lifeless. Decay cowers into his back, "Looks like Sickness is coming. Are you immune to nerve gas?"

"I don't know really. Only one way to- Ugahh!" before Nodnarb can even finish his sentence, he feels as if something has invaded his body and causes it to spasm violently. Decay hops off his back and watches helplessly as her new friend falls on the ground and shakes in intense pain. His body jerks violently, his eyes and nose run, his mouth waters and flings saliva everywhere. His body sweats, he loses control of his bowels (yes he did...), and he breaks into a coughing fit.

"That's enough Sickness, STOP IT before you kill him!" Decay demands, tears flowing out her soulful eyes. She didn't know why the thought of him dying hurt her so much, she just knew she wanted him around; she didn't want to lose him.

"It's too late... My nerve gas has already hit him... I'm sorry Decay..." a girl, no older than ten says. It was eerie how similar the two sisters were, in fact if not for the five year age difference, you'd swear they were twins. She watches the dark guy spasm for another minute before he finally stops, dead; just like all the others. Sickness hated herself, her very existence was to spread sickness and death. Everyone she came near would fall over and die, it was truly a lonely existence.

Decay couldn't control the sobs that rocked her body to the core. She had never felt such a torrent of emotions flush out of her. It was truly a scary and yet relieving experience and it didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon. "He's gone, BB is gone *sob, sob, sob! Snivel, sob, snivel* he was the only person to look at me as something other than a monster. Now he's..."

"Well that sucked." Nodnarb says, flexing his aching muscles. Both girls look on in sheer shock, no one had EVER survived from Sickness' nerve gas based defense. Decay couldn't help but embrace the dark guy with all her might; literally almost popping his head off in the process.

"BB you're ALIVE! HE'S ALLLIVEE! Rouge Slingers are AWEEESOME!" Decay says, tears of joy flowing freely down her face. Sickness just looks in wide eyed awe at the guy, who stretches his body to work out the kinks. Unlike Decay, her abilities could not be shut off. She constantly emits nerve gas from every pore of her body, even able to change what kinds of agents she emits. To see this guy seemingly immune to one of her strongest agents was... Exciting.

"Who are you?" Sickness asks. Nodnarb stifles a chuckle at her wide eyed expression; she looked just like Decay did after their fight. Before he can say anything, "His name is BB and he's an awesome Rouge Slinger! See Rouge Slingers are..." Decay took her sister by the hand and began to explain all she knew about the dark guy. Sickness listened to her little sister's tale with wonder and curiosity.

"Are there anymore of you gals in the area?" Nodnarb asks. Even if he couldn't be killed, that didn't mean he couldn't feel pain and there seemed to be a trend of him dying at the hands of these girls.

"No, Mother only sends two of us out at a time; anymore would be overkill." Decay says, grabbing a hold of his hand, glad to feel the warmth returning. Seeing Sickness look longingly, Nodnarb holds his hand out to her and she eagerly accepts it. It was the first time she had any physical contact with a person, besides her Sisters and Mothers, since her birth. She marveled at the sense of security and warmth that seemed to radiate off him.

"In that case, we're headed straight for Fullmetal City and thanks to Sickness, I have a direct link there! Finally a death in that city." Nodnarb says, sensing the lost of life and all the invite he needs. The darkness coils around them and embraces them before it drags them down and vanishes...

**With Naruto and Cyrus...**

The hospital of Fullmetal city had never seen such an epidemic to this degree. For seemingly no apparent reason, healthy people were dropping like flies and dying. The doctors all had to adopt hazmat suits in order to operate without risk of exposure. Cyrus stands over a corpse in autopsy.

"You're rather healthy looking on the outside good fellow." Cyrus says to the corpse, whose chest is cut open and exposed for the State Alchemist to see. With his vast knowledge of the human body, he was able to see just what was causing these poor people's deaths.

"Looks like you were exposed to high levels of nerve gas. Your nerves couldn't do there second job and tell your body to stop and your nerves kept on going; must have been the most terrifying two minutes of your life. Could this be her doing? The symptoms, while mild in her case, are too similar to her disease to be a coincidence," Cyrus ponders.

Suddenly, the corpse's heart begins to beat rapidly, far too rapidly to be safe. Was this where the sickness originated from? Before Cyrus could wonder anymore, the heart explodes and out of the gore, Nodnarb and the two Homunculi leap out.

"Cyrus Elric, I have a warrant for your Death." Nodnarb says, pulling out a flyer with Cyrus' picture and bio on it and holds it out for him to see.

"You were supposed to die on that day. The fact you've lived this long is a miracle in itself, but all miracles run out eventually." Nodnarb says, pulling his scythe out from black smoke. Cyrus' body is surrounded by blue lightning, before his Body Augmentation turns him into his black brute form. Nodnard doesn't seem the least bit impressed and rushes the bulking man. With a graceful swing of his scythe, Cyrus is shocked when a gash appears on his arm and sprays blood. Hanging the blood stained scythe over his hand, "Hex Magic: Repulse." the blood drips on his hand and begins to spiral like a vortex before it unleashes a repulsing wave that sends Cyrus through the wall, where Naruto and the others reside.

Everyone readies their Alchemy to face whomever attacked their comrade. From the smoke of destruction, steps Nodnarb and his toddler brigade. Naruto couldn't believe this was their attacker. Weren't they on the same side?

"What the hell are you doing Nodnarb?! Cyrus is on our side, we're here to help me!" Naruto declares, ready to show this douche just how much he improved since their last encounter.

"No YOU are here to help him. I am here to kill him; that's been my mission all along." Nodnarb says, tossing Cyrus' Death Warrant towards Kushina. He figured she was the brain of the operation. The crimson suit Uzumaki scans over the poster, looking at all the important details. What she read sickened her to no end, but who was she to judge? Handing the warrant over to Naruto, the blonde suit skims through swiftly.

"This is bullshit! You're charging him with the mass murder of everyone affected by the living Philosopher's Stone?" Naruto asks, he wanted to scream in outrage but, "Well why not? He is responsible for it after all. Even if he did not mean for all this to happen, he still caused it and must pay the price," Nodnarb says, just itching to draw as much blood from Cyrus as possible; everyone else didn't have enough of it to use Hex magic on em.

"He's trying to make up for it! Maybe we can find a way to free the souls that have been turned." Naruto says, his tone filled with hope. Nodnarb scowls at the naive soul before him. So full of hope, so arrogantly young it sickened him. This soul had yet to experience the hellish torment those trapped in the stone were feeling.

"Maybe, that's your answer? You'll just pour all your hope and determination into what you do and you'll shit out rainbows and sunshine. What about the souls trapped inside the stone HE created? The hell they experience, their torment causes even more torment for their chosen vessels, which they call Homunculi. You wish to destroy them for what they are, Decay and Sickness." Nodnarb says, his words echoing to the two Homunculi and every soul trapped inside them. Red lightning dances around Decay's body, causing all the Suits to tense and gain Nodnarb's attention.

"If your sins weren't heavy enough, you bring back people, whose souls long departed, back to serve your Military? A dog's duty is done once they're dead. To snatch them away from the Spiritual Realm and force them back into duty is a hell in itself. Stand down Naruto, or I will cut you down like a freshly mowed lawn." Nodnarb says, his cloak of darkness wraps around his body.

Suddenly, Cyrus' body is charged with red lightning and his bulky exterior shrinks down into a lean silver body. Without warning, Nodnarb feels a blow in his throat that forces the air out of him and sends him smashing against the wall, in a bloody splat. Kushina looks at Cyrus in awe, before comprehension shines in her eyes. _"Amazing, he augmented his nervous system to its maximum output. While he is no were near as powerful as when he is a Brute, in this Lean form he is far faster. The only indication he even moved is the thin line he burned when he moved."_

"I'll be the first to admit I deserve to die." Cyrus says, "What?!" Naruto asks in shock. How could he say such a thing?

"They say the road to Hell is paved in good intentions, while I've paved my way there and beyond. I have killed people on order or not, I have experimented on unwilling victims. I am Hell bound, my otherworldly friends, but not before I save my sister," Cyrus says with sheer determination. Nodnarbs raspy laughter catches his attention, he shouldn't be able to breathe let alone laugh.

Coughing out some blood, Nodnarb uses it to draw a Hex magic: Recycle seal on the ground, then slams the pole of his scythe on top of it. The scythe dissolves into black smoke and travels under ground. Everyone feels the ground tremble beneath them and hear the clanging of chains underneath them.

"Nobody hits my BB!" Decay screams, rushing the silver man, who sees her move in slow motion. In a blink of an eye, Decay feels a blow across the face, that stuns her for a second, whether from pain or shock she doesn't know. She smirks though once she sees Cyrus hold his hand in pain.

"HA that's what you get for hitting a lady!" Decay says, blowing raspberries at the silver man. Before she can retract her tongue, Silver Suit clears the distance between them, on his peg leg, and slashes her tongue clean off. A gush of red goo pools out as Decay tries to scream and keep from drowning in her own blood. Before that can happen, her tongue regrows and she snarls at the foolish Suit.

"We of the Animated Unit are well versed in combating Homunculi. It would appear your tongue is your weak point, I wonder how many times I'd have to cut it off before he die?" Silver suit says darkly. Decay gulps, but shows no other signs of fear; she was always prepared for life and death situations. Before Silver suit can make his move, a corpse's hand shots from the ground and grabs a hold of his peg leg. Silver suit attempts to cut off the offending appendage, but the hand crumbles to dust, a black chain shoots from the wrist and coils around both his legs.

That was all the distraction Decay needed to leap over on Silver suit's shoulders and pour her stream of hollowing souls down on him. His death was swifter than the scream he wanted to let out, the souls literally reduced him to nothing more than a metal leg that escaped the stream. The black chain coils around Giolio Comanche's soul and drags it over to Nodnarb, who eagerly devours the soul and spits out its innocence; thus purifying it and only accepting its sin.

Nodnarb's eyes gleam from all of Giolio's expertise and experience he accumulated. Pulling a crystal ball from his pocket, he places it on the ground and balances off it with one leg; much like Giolio with his peg leg. Opening his mouth as wide as he can, a machete is forced out his throat in a splash of vomit, spit and a little blood. Decay jumps with excitement, eager to see her brother destroy their enemies. Sickness had other plans, increasing the flow of nervous gas throughout the room.

_"It seems like a freshly mowed... Lawn oh shit! That girl is releasing nerve gas!" _Realization struck and Cyrus used every ounce of his augmented speed to transmute a hole beneath him and once he fell through, he resealed it instantly, but not without leaving a chibi version of his head with a loud speaker behind.

"Attention Animated Suits, the ten year old is releasing nerve gas into the room. Obviously this doesn't effect you, but it's fatal to me, so focus your attacks on her. Once she's taken care of, I'll rejoin and put an end to any surviving intruders." Cyrus announces. "Oh hell naw." Nodnarb calls forth his cloak of darkness.

"Death Magic: Void." Nodnarb chants, the cloak of darkness consumes his body and spins counter-clockwise before disappearing in a burst. Decay stands by her sister, the remaining suits surrounding them and various colored lightning flashes around them. Decay slams her hands on the ground and unleashes her "monster", that soon consumes the ground and roots it. Sickness emits a thick mist, that rusts any metal that gets too close. With their transmutations complete, a sphere of destruction, a spiraling ball of blue lightning, a whirling wind tunnel, several explosions and ice encases the area the Homunculi were in a cataclysmic flash of destructive power. The aftermath literally blows the roof off of the library and causes mass hysteria. Burning debris falls from the sky like shrapnel.

"That was overkill." Naruto says, feeling a tinge of guilt over killing such young girls. From the smoking remains of the room, flashes of red lightning alert everyone the fight wasn't over yet. A stream of howling souls roars from the smoke aimed right for the Sewing Life suit, who can't dodge in time and meets the same fate as Silver Suit. The soul of Shou Tucker is wrapped in a black chain and dragged to wherever Nodnarb is.

"I wonder how he's able to collect the souls we kill." Sickness asks, before she sends tendrils of mist at the suits, who are forced to dodge or rust. Crimson suit locks onto her position and unleashes combustion alchemy on the Homunculi. For a brief second, Sickness feels her skin tingle, before she is blown up with extreme force. Before Crimson suit can do the same to the other, his foot sinks into mud pit. That's all the time Decay needs to close the ground between them and grab both his arms, causing them to rust and fall right off. Not wanting his blood seal to be discovered, he headbutts the girl and sends her tumbling on the ground. Kushina and Naruto surround the downed girl and unleash a twin wind tunnel that rips the girl apart in a gory fashion.

Every attempt for the red lightning to repair her is met with increased wind speeds and more damage to her body. Even for her this was exhausting her life force and hurt like all hell. Fearing death more than her "monster", Decay's body begins to literally decay and fall to rotted pieces. From the pile of decay, a ball of red lightning hovers in mid-air.

"Now I'm pissed!" Decay's voice screams from the ball of red lightning. Streaks of lightning flash across the room, forcing the suits to dodge. Crystal suit isn't quick enough and is reduced to rust, his soul taken to Nodnarb...

**With Nodnarb and Cyrus...**

With the addition of Crystal suit, Nodnarb had more than enough power to render Cyrus' augmentation alchemy useless. Black lightning dances around the room and forms an eccentric symbol on the floor and ceiling.

"There's good news and bad news," Nodnarb says. Cyrus didn't need to be a State Alchemist to realize black lightning was never a good sign. Not only that, but he couldn't feel the tectonic energies beneath his feet anymore.

"Good news first," Cyrus says, trying to gain whatever information he can from the strange man.

"I can't use Death Slinging while in this room, due to the seal on the ground," Nodnarb says, shocking Cyrus. It didn't make sense to handicap one's self... Unless...

"What's the bad news?" Cyrus asks, getting a strange sense of dread from the man, who just smiles devilishly.

"You can't use any form of alchemy; however I could if I choose to." Nodnarb says, taking sick pleasure out of the fear in Cyrus' eyes. That was one sight he grew to love, the look of realization in their eyes; seeing their deaths just moments away...

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****Here for your viewing pleasure Chapter 10 of NTSS! I must say I feel good about this chapter. I hope it makes up for the long wait.


	11. Outrage

Hey sorry it's been so long since I updated the stories. My internet has been down for a while and it even comes off and on now... So hopefully it will work enough to get to writing. True Shinobi is also in the works, I just hit a snag with it and figure if I write this, ideas will come to me.

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Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "…"_

_**Spirit speech "..."**_

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "…"**

Hand seals/kanji: Tori酉(Bird), I 亥(Boar), Inu 戌(Dog), Tatsu 辰(Dragon), Ushi 丑(Ox), Tora 寅(Tiger), Mi 巳(Snake), Ne 子(Rat), Uma 午(Horse), Saru 申(Monkey), U卯 (Hare), Hitsuji未 (Ram)

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Naruto the Seal Slinger

Outrage

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It was a peaceful afternoon in Alterland, or at least that's what time Tenten thought it was. The fair weather and gentle breeze seemed to be amplified by her still form. A drawn nodachi rests in her hand at the ready as she stared down her foe, the masked Mrs. Koomuru Misfit, who had her tantoo at the ready. Both seemed to be in their own world, in fact, if one were to look close enough, they could see the transparent barrier surrounding them. The purpose of the barrier was unknown; perhaps it was to keep their battle from affecting the peaceful lands?

In less than the blink of the eye, Mrs. Misfit covered the ground between them, her tantoo already sheathed and her stance relaxed. Tenten couldn't believe the speed in which her foe moved, it was so fast she couldn't even feel herself get cut diagonally until her torso fall in a different direction than her legs. Red chakra begins to gush from her severed torso and blankets the ground in its hue.

"DAMMIT, how many times are you going to cut me in half and put me back together?! This shit really hurts ya know," Tenten yells, several tick marks bulging from her head. They had been at this for what felt like days now. Mrs. Misfit would cut her in half, stitch her back up and repeat the process continuously; what was the woman's game?

"I'll keep this up until you react to my movements. I'm moving at the speed of storms; that's 110 km/hr (68 m/hr). If you can react to that, most fuuton ninjutsu will be little problem for you," Mrs. Misfit explains before walking over to the dismembered girl, her hands green with heart chakra and begins the process of healing her.

"Why do you care so much about my defeat at the hands of that Suna chick?" Tenten asks, feeling the invading and yet calming effects of Mrs. Misfit's healing chakra. The masked woman emits a cheerful aura, giving Tenten the impression the woman was smiling underneath her mask, "That would be telling now wouldn't it?" Once the girl was completely healed, Tenten rises to her feet and stretches her body a bit; wincing from her still sore torso.

Mrs. Misfit tosses the bun-haired girl several scrolls, which she fails to catch all of them. Upon further inspection, Tenten realizes these are her weapon scrolls. "Finally changing things up?"

"In a way yes. Now I want you to try and hit me with as many weapons as you can," Mrs. Misfit instructs. With a sinister smirk, Tenten unseals a handful of kunai and launches them at the masked woman. _"Impressive, judging by the sounds of it, I'd clock the kunai at 55 m/hr. Not bad," _Once the projectiles are within range, Tenten is horrified to see the kunai seemingly ride some phantom winds, float around the masked woman and back at her at twice the speeds. At 110 m/hr there was no way for her to dodge, so she took her own kunai in her arms and several in the torso. Instead of blood, red chakra leaks from her wounds and the sensation of pain rocks her spirit, but she manages to endure.

"This is the problem with Shinobi of our dimension; they rely too heavily on a single practice. Either a shinobi specializes in ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu or in your case shurikenjutsu; how many have you seen that is well-rounded? How many shinobi fall prey to arrogance due to their specialties, or come across an opponent that can easily trump them due to their inexperience with other arts?" Mrs. Misfit asks, hitting home for the bun-haired teen. Her sensei specialized in taijutsu to an insane level, but he rarely if ever used ninjutsu or the other tools of a shinobi; in a way it was the main reason he continued to lose to Kakashi. Then there were the Uchiha, who were slain by their own blood due to the evil that possessed the entire clan.

Pulling the kunai out of her, Tenten waits for the wounds to close, still marveling at the rate she healed. While it would have taken her days to heal from such injuries, in this dimension it felt more like minutes. With her wounds healed, Tenten holds a large scroll with both hands before tossing it at Mrs. Misfit and unsealing its contents; a giant, spiked, iron ball. "Jidanda, do your thing!"

The huge sphere tries to crush the masked woman, but once it gets within range, an invisible force blocks it and causes it to bounce off seemingly thin air and land next to her like the scattered kunai. Tenten sits full lotus and clasps her hands together in concentration. The spikes of the iron sphere open and reveal dozens of explosive tags inside the sphere. A few of the tags detonate, causing the iron ball to rocket towards her once more, only for the same force to repel it away. Before it can hit the ground, more explosive tags detonate and maneuver it in mid air right back at Mrs. Misfit, who quirks an eyebrow. This time, whatever force that repelled the Jidanda was missing and it pounces down on her. To Tenten's shock, the masked woman began to grow dramatically, until the once giant Jidanda was no taller than her ankle. The barrier around them extended in order to accommodate the giant woman.

"This is how you pounce on a bitch!" Mrs. Misfit voice booms as she drops her mighty fist down on the trembling Tenten, crushing her in one blow. _"What did I do to deserve this hell?"_

**With Nodnarb and Cyrus...**

Nodnarb flexes his fingers on the handle of his scythe, while Cyrus pulls out a set of daggers in preparation. Both warriors sizes up the other, one with arrogance gained from centuries of killing things twice their size and the other with a great sense of dread. The battle above them causes tremors to rock the building and dust falls from the ceiling.

"Mind if I ask one question before we begin?" Cyrus asks, the scholar in him getting the best of him. Nodnarb thinks about it, "Sure why not?"

"What do you call your arts? They seem similar to Naruto and Kushina's Seal Slinging, but far more dark," Cyrus asks. Both had shown him what little they knew of the art, but unlike them, this guy didn't seem to adapt as well. Instead of using and learning alchemy, he seemed to stick to his ways; couldn't blame him in hindsight.

"Curious I see. It seems only fitting really, my arts are called Death Slinging. It can be broken into three categories: Death magic, Hex magic and Vex magic. I'm fond of Hex magic myself, but I can use Death magic as well, but enough talk," Nodnarb explains before he twirls his scythe and rushes Cyrus, who puts his daggers in front of him in a X guard. Once the dark guy reaches his prey, he slashes down with his scythe, but Cyrus parries it and enters his space. Once there, Cyrus swipes his dagger horizontally across Nodnarb's chest, but the dark guy side steps and counters with a mid kick to his chest that connects and forces him back.

Not wanting to give his prey any breathing room, Nodnarb unleashes a furious combination of upward, downward, horizontal and criss-cross slashes of his scythe that Cyrus is hard pressed to evade or parry with his own daggers. Sparks and the sound of steel on steel echo throughout the room, the dark guy couldn't contain his gleeful laughter; enjoying their little dance immensely.

"I find that people, no matter what the dimension, seem to rely heavily on their dimension's arts. You should have seen the battle between Naruto and I, without his ninjutsu he was pathetic, but you're different," Nodnarb says, ducking under a swipe that would have tore open his throat. He counters with a rising slash, but Cyrus back flips out of the way and then rushes him again. They met in a clash as both struggle for dominance.

"Even though I've taken your alchemy away, you're still giving me some trouble. It would be shameful of me to use alchemy when you can't," Nodnarb says, finally overpowering the Elric man and nicking him across the cheek. The blood falls to the ground and the black lightning seemingly absorbs it and grows stronger. To Cyrus' confusion, Nodnarb begins to bob and rock to some phantom tune in his head, eyes closed and a smile on his face.

_"Well it's an opening, strange opening yes but an opening nonetheless," _with his mind made up, Cyrus rushes the distracted man and aims a X slash, with both daggers, at his neck, but Nodnarb bends backwards and does a hand stand out of the way, before he flips and continues to dance. "Can't you hear it?"

"What?" Cyrus asks, trying to hear whatever it was his opponent was dancing to, but coming up empty. "The sound of battle, the blood dropping on the floor and your heart racing with adrenaline! I hear it all, it's so soothing and yet exhilarating at the same damn time! It excites me so much," Nodnarb's smile turns into a dark smirk, flashing his sharp teeth and licking the air with his pierced tongue.

"Is that so? Well why should my blood be the only one being shed?" Cyrus asks with a smirk. Slamming his hand on one of the tiles, it sinks down and from the ceiling, Iron Blood Suit appears, with arms of gatling guns. His 'fingers' begin to spin rapidly firing bullets at Nodnarb. The dark guy twirls his scythe swiftly and deflects as many bullets as he can, but a few still manage to hit him in the shoulder and right thigh. Not wanting to become Swiss cheese, Nodnarb back flips out of the way, turns around and runs zig zags to evade the torrent of bullets.

"This entire city is rigged with all kinds of weapons developed by yours truly. The library, my observatory, even the homes of your average joe is teeming with all kinds of deadly weapons; ready to be activated by a single touch," Cyrus explains, as if to demonstrate, he presses a random spot on the wall and red transmutation circles glow from the floor. Iron Blood Suit leads an evading Nodnarb to one of the red circles and upon contact, it explodes! Nodnarb's entire leg is lost in the aftermath and Cyrus capabilities by rushing him and stabbing him in the throat and heart.

Instead of a pained look, Nodnarb actually grins, his teeth stained by his blood and falls on his back, seemingly dead. Cyrus begins to calm his beating heart and makes his way over to the door, but before he can open it, Nodnarb tosses his scythe and nearly takes off his hand in the process. The once crippled man has some kind of black tendril wiggling out of his missing leg and a random soul leaves his body.

"One down, how many will it take, before I kick the bucket for good, I wonder?" Nodnarb says with a sick grin. To Cyrus' horror, the black tendril turns into a leg and Nodnarb gives it a few practice kicks, "Shall we continue?"

**With Naruto and Kushina...**

Rays of blur lightning dance off Naruto's arms as he flings them forward and waves of razor winds race towards the crimson sphere that was Decay. The Crimson sphere unleashes strikes of red lightning at the wind blades and easily breaks them down to harmless levels as the wind brushes past Sickness and blows her hair gently. Kushina slams her hands on the ground and blue lightning surrounds her hands before streams of chains erupt from the ground and ensnare Sickness, allowing the Freezing Suit to encase the girl in thick sheets of ice.

"Hey don't forget about me!" Crimson Suit yells, gaining Kushina's attention. She effortlessly covers the ground between them and grabs a hold of him. Sickness emits screeching hot steam from her pores and effortlessly melts the ice and burns the chains to a molten state. Kushina tries to outrun the offensive mist, but can't escaping its burning grasps. Her suit begins to burn away, blue lightning strikes the mist and a huge squall of wind blows it off Kushina. Lightning fizzes off of Naruto's armored arms in preparation for another transmutation.

Sickness unleashes constant streams of the steam in order to prevent the Freezing Suit from using his type of alchemy against her. If the Freezing Suit could smirk he would, using the very steam she emits, he boils the water and effectively boils her alive in a gruesomely painful manner. Her skin began to bubble and burst over and over again, Freezing Suit constantly using his alchemy in a dazzling array of blue lightning.

"SICKNESS!" Decay cries, several cracks appear on her form, strikes of dark lightning leaking out. More cracks appear, before she shatters and unleashes her true self, a slithering mass of a thousand howling faces, attached to a single stone. Sensing the opposing force, Freezing Suit stops his onslaught on Sickness and aims for Decay, but it effortlessly shakes off his boiling and freezing alchemy. Using one of the faces like a hammer, it crushes Freezing Suit with ease, before pounding into the suit again and again, flinging red goo everywhere! Soon Isaac McDougal's soul is chained and dragged down to Nodnarb, and after a howling face devours Silver Bullet Suit, Jack Crowley joins him.

One of the faces engulfs Sickness, then melds with her body and heals her wounds. Sickness walks over to her sister and holds her in her hands, before she pops her stone form in her mouth and devours all of the howling faces in one huge gulp. Sickness pats her tummy, red lightning focuses in that area.

"Tucker, get your ass over here and sew my suit to Kushina!" Crimson Suit instructs, sensing there wasn't much time. Sewing-Life Suit rushes over to both red suits and touches them both, yellow lightning dancing off his hands and onto the suits. "Why?" Kushina asks, the yellow lightning almost blinding. Crimson Suit chuckles softly, "I'd rather not die by the hand of a Homunculus again, if I can help it."

The light consumes what remains of Solf J. Kimblee's armor and melds it with Kushina's, her arms are engraved in his infamous sun (right arm) and moon (left arm) transmutation arrays. Her once burned armor rebuilt anew, if not better and sleeker. "How does it feel to share a shell with me?" Kimblee asks, his blood seal right next to Kushina's, "A bit invading actually." Kimblee laughs, "The benefits will be worth it my dear,"

Suddenly, Sickness unleashes a stream of howling souls at them, Kushina escapes the blast, but Sewing-Life Suit joins the fallen Suits as Nodnarb's bitch slaves. Leaving only Naruto, Kushina and Kyuubi to face the suddenly bubbly girl; I mean literally bubbling. From her pores, red blob bubbles, with grinning faces, spew forth.

"Oooooh I wonder if BB would like this form?" Decay asks, her voice coming from all the bubbles at once. Sickness begins to burp out red bubbles, "This is so gross *BURP!*" Blue lightning flashes and miniature twisters whirl around Naruto's arms. Kyuubi burrows it tails into the ground, red lightning pouring out like geysers. Kushina attempts to form a Tectonic Rasengan, but instead her arms move to clasp together. Both symbols react to one another, creating an imbalance of energy, that Kushina instinctively begins to spin and rotate until she has a perfect Combustible Rasengan in her hand. The sphere contains the imbalanced energies inside it, but clearly show the destructive potential.

The red bubbles spiral into needles and launches themselves at the Suit trio. Naruto crosses his arms and forms tornado winds around him and his comrades, which Kyuubi amplifies by adding his red lightning of destruction. The red spirals collide with the red winds, some being swept up and tossed aside, while others were destroyed. Kushina turns her free arm into a chain and wraps it around her Combustion Rasengan carefully. Naruto cancels his tornado and Kushina hurls her flail-like Combustion Rasengan at Sickness, but Decay intercepts by impaling the dangerous sphere. Upon impact, the Rasengan unleashes its dormant energies in an outburst of cataclysmic proportion! Decay takes the hit full on, every last bit of her is destroyed in blast.

"Decay... DECAAAAAAY!" Sickness screams, watching her sister's annihilation beyond repair. She had spewed all of her sister out of her body, so there was nothing left; not even her stone. Blinding hatred consumes Sickness as she yells out her fury! Running to the wall, leading to outside, Sickness smashes through it with a single punch and runs through the streets of Fullmetal City.

"I'll make them pay, everyone and everything has to PAAAYY!" Sickness spews her most lethal nerve gas from every pore of her body at alarming rates. The once scream and hysteric citizens of Fullmetal City all fall down and die in gruesome spasms. No one is spared as Sickness spreads her nerve gas inside every home, every establishment, not even animals were spared as everyone and everything died in the span of four minutes.

**Back with Nodnarb and Cyrus...**

Souls were being dragged to Nodnarb at such an rate, his body actually began to decompose by the building pressure. His cloak of darkness consumes the souls and traps them inside a black box. "This is gonna be good," Nodnarb smiles devilishly, even with the blood spilling from his body. It was riddled with bullet holes and his right arm was replaced by a wiggling black tendril; it was all worth it. Basque Grand's soul belonged to him; all it took was acrobatics, some aerodynamic flips and a scythe to the face! All of Cyrus' gadgets and inventions couldn't keep the dark guy down for long; it was like he was...

"Immortal, no?" Nodnarb asks, causing Cyrus to break into a sweat. It was like all life around him suddenly... _"That Homunculus!" _

"Based on the memories of the recently departed, Sickness has gotten loose and unleashed all hell on your fair city. All that's left to do is... Decay?! What the hell are you doing there?" Nodnarb asks, somehow sensing the girl's soul inside the swarm of departed souls. "I died... I'm sorry BB..." the dark guy literally shoves his hand inside the box and pulls out Decay's head.

"No you're not silly, I still have your head. Don't scare me like that," Nodnarb says with a sigh of relief. It scared him how attached he became to the young soul; it was just so damn cute! "Woah how are you doing this BB?"

"I figured as long as a part of you remains, then you can regenerate somehow. You wouldn't know how to do that would you?" Nodnarb asks her, "Nah, only Famine and Death know that. They're probably by Mother's side, but I don't know my way back home. I bet Sickness does!" Cyrus noticed the black lightning had receded once that influx of energy began to gather around Nodnarb. Testing his senses, he feels that all too familiar spark and blue lightning courses through his body. Using the excess energies in the air, Cyrus combines is Brute and Lean form into a Behemoth of lean muscle with an almost golden sheen.

With a sick smirk, Nodnarb seals the girl away for safety and brasses himself. In an instant, his body is rocketed out of the now leveled library and crashes through several buildings behind it. Once Cyrus was outside, he could only stare in stunned numbness at what lay before him, dead bodies laying all over the streets and a thick mist of nerve gas. Slamming his palms on the ground, golden lightning races around him and projects a literal sphere of lightning that allows him to move through the mist. Suddenly, Nodnarb leaps from Cyrus' shadows and aims a snap kick at his face that connects. Cyrus absorbs the blow and bounces it right back at him, causing him to spin in the air. Before Nodnarb can even touch the ground, Cyrus punches him back into the mist, where he can hear him crash through several buildings.

Cyrus feels Nodnarb somehow jab him in the side, before it is bounced back at him and stuns him for a second, which is all it took for Cyrus to deal a devastating kick to his temple. Nodnarb's body tumbles on the ground, kicking up large amounts of pavement as it ricochets off of it. Again he can hear the body slam into one or two buildings. Yet another blow, an uppercut this time, hits him and yet again it is ricochets on Nodnarb, _"How the hell did he survive that blow? How did he survive getting shoot by bullets, cannonballs, fucking nerve gas! Is this the power of a Death Slinger?"_

Blow after blow rocks Cyrus' body and is ricocheted off so many times, the ricochets caused ricochets and before long Cyrus couldn't tell if he was countering or not. _"Impossible! How is he able to recover so swiftly and how the FUCK is he hitting me faster than I can counter?! I've augmented my body to its max!"_

"All you're doing is slaying the very citizens you swore to protect!" Nodnarb yells, before he leaps from the mist and slams the black box against Cyrus' face. In a mad burst of power, the souls are unleashed and twirl around them both in a sphere of agony. The pain of the souls course through Cyrus with each specter that enters his body. Nodnarb grins at Cyrus' screaming form, "Yeah, feel it! Feel the pain of the dead and weep! You did this to them, you brought this on them."

"BB, it's getting dark in here..." Decay says, her voice barely a whisper. Ending his torment of Cyrus, Nodnarb recalls the black box and slams it on the ground. His cloak of darkness splashes out and consumes him before disappearing into the ground. Cyrus falls to the ground, wishing for either unconsciousness or death to take him; anything to rid the soul crushing pain... "Trish..."

**With Naruto, Kushina and Kyuubi...**

"RELEASE ME!" Sickness demands, her body ensnared in chains that constantly exploded over and over again. Whenever it seemed like Kushina would run out of armor to transmute, Kimblee would give up his own armor to keep the deadly girl pinned. Kyuubi began the process of deconstructing all three of his tails and churning it into a Bijuudama. Naruto unleashes strikes of yellow lightning from his dominant hand, that soon turns into little diamond-like sparks of lightning. Using his other hand to add blue lightning to the equation, the diamond sparks meld into a green cross of intense winds.

"I refuse to die! Why are we hated for existing, for surviving!?" Sickness asks, the pain of her remaining souls bleeding from her eyes. Her little sister was... was, "Hands off my Sister!" Sickness couldn't believe her eyes. Rising from the shadows like a black knight, Nodnarb breaks the chains and consumes them in darkness, a cheering Decay head tucked under his arm.

"You heard the lady..." Nodnarb says, unleashing black lightning from his body and burrowing it into the ground. Before the tectonic energies are blocked, Kyuubi and Naruto launch their attacks at the trio. Nodnarb consumes the two Homunculi in darkness and leaves himself open as both attacks unleash their might on him. A dome of sheering winds encompasses the area, leveling buildings and dead bodies alike. In its wake there lay no blood, no splatter and only Nodnard's tongue remained. Kyuubi sits full lotus and begins the process of regenerating his lost youki and trying to get back in sync with this 'tectonic' energy; use whatever source of power available to you. Naruto loses both his arms at the elbow, the alchemic reaction a Rebound at best. He took a page from Kimblee and combined too opposing elements, his Classical Element: Air, and the Essential Principle: Sulfur. (AN: I am not a scientist in anyway. This is based on fantasy alchemy and the ramblings of a madman, aka me. Just enjoy it for what it is, my best attempt to describe the awesome that was that alchemy. It is NOT a Rasenshuriken, nor is it anywhere near that level! The Three Tail Bijuudama helped the damage ratio sky rocket!)

Suddenly, Nodnarb's tongue blows raspberries at the trio, before it sinks into the darkness. Even the Kyuubi feels a tinge of fear at knowing the dark guy somehow survived, though injured. Kushina walks over to some scrap metal and repairs any damage in a flash of yellow lightning. Picking up several other pieces, she does the same for Naruto and even Kyuubi. Once they're restored, they come face to face with the aftermath of their battle.

"I... I couldn't save anyone... Everyone died..." Naruto despairs. The utter failure to protect so many, weighed down so heavily on his soul. Kushina embraces her son, cursing her inability to feel him tremble. "I can't cry..."

"You're a suit of armor-baka." Kyuubi snorts, but Naruto doesn't laugh or even yell an outburst. He just looked at the ground, trying to force tears out, to see them fall on the ground, but nothing happened. "Damn this dimension..."

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Kablam in yo faces! Another chapter for your viewing pleasures. Again reviews are welcome and are both encouragement to keep writing and a source of ideas. I'd like to take the time to thank MadaraRennigan for the Four Horsemen idea. Honestly I hadn't even thought of that until you mentioned it. I got so many ideas from your suggestion, I dropped my original idea and adapted that one and I must say I am happy with the results. Anyway, stay breezy!


	12. Rejoice

This chapter goes out to Naruto the Seal Slinger's best reviewer to date: BackwardsHazard! He has reviewed every chapter so far and has left not only positive feedback, but insight into a fan's interpretation of my story. At the end of the day, an author's greatest goal is to paint the perfect picture for you all to enjoy. I hope to really spark your imaginations and amaze you with my own!

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Normal speech: "..."

_Thoughts: "…"_

**_Spirit speech "..."_**

**Bijuu speech or higher being: "…"**

Hand seals/kanji: Tori酉(Bird), I 亥(Boar), Inu 戌(Dog), Tatsu 辰(Dragon), Ushi 丑(Ox), Tora 寅(Tiger), Mi 巳(Snake), Ne 子(Rat), Uma 午(Horse), Saru 申(Monkey), U卯 (Hare), Hitsuji未 (Ram)

* * *

Naruto the Seal Slinger

Rejoice

It was a brisk morning in Alterland; though no snow fell, there was a definite chill in the air. The once lush forests were now bare and naked. Dressed in a bulky tan winter coat with the hood up, Mr. Misfit leans against a tree, smoking a blunt of that 3015; yep life was good when you were king. "Alright, I think it's about time I stopped going easy on you." Tenten, who was dressed in a white hoodie with a red scarf, couldn't believe what the crazed man just said! Take it easy on her? For the past week she had been cut in half repeatedly, shoved inside a small cage and even woke up with her head detached from her body!

"Please if this is considered easy, I'd rather stay at this level." Tenten says, not wanting to experience anything worse than the torture she endured so far! Mr. Misfit just chuckle darkly, "Now where is the fun in that? How are we going to spread Chaos throughout the Universe, if we don't do things the hard way?" the grin on his face makes the bun haired girl gulp.

"I guess you're ready for an introduction to Seal Slinging. We'll start by explaining how a seal is made." Mr. Misfit explains, holding his hand out for Tenten to see. Before her eyes, a sphere of red, burning, energy roars from his hand. "This is the first of seven sources of power used in seal slinging; it is called Survival Instincts. We'll go into how to draw out this power later, for now let's move on to the next power." On top of the sphere of SI, another sphere of orange, plasma, energy statics to life!

"This is the second source of power, Sexual Energy. The third source of power," Mr. Misfit explains, creating a sphere of yellow, shining, energy on top of the SE sphere. "Is called Will or sometimes Will Power" Tenten watches with stunned amazement, the strange and yet familiar energy was a mystery to her; a mystery she wanted to solve.

"Those make up the Lower Sources of Power; the next four are considered the Higher Sources of Power and are many times more powerful than the lower. The Higher Sources are strictly specific in their use; so tread cautiously. Anyway, the fourth source of power is Love." Mr. Misfit explains, conjuring a sphere of green, vibrating, energy on top of the sphere of Will. Tenten could feel the intensity from the fourth source, washing waves of warmth over her.

"Don't try taking all the credit, Misfit." A voice echoes all around them. "Tsk fine Leon; I guess I wouldn't be able to ascend without your guidance. In order to use the higher sources, a Slinger needs help from their Spiritual Guide." From out of nowhere, a tall black man appears in a white suit with black tie. Leon waves at the awe struck teen, "Love is the strongest of all the powers; despite its ranking. Love is everlasting, ever flowing and omnipresent. It is easy to feel and give love, because Love is life itself."

"Ay I'm the Professor here Leon! You higher beings always speak vaguely; the poor girl will never understand. I'll show you how it's done." Mr. Misfit says clearing his throat. Tenten didn't think she was stupid or anything, but she would like these Spiritual Guides explained further.

"Think of a Spiritual Guide as an Envoy of Love that resides on the Path of Happiness. This dimension is literally filled with Love, so much so that the Spiritual Guides turned it into a pathway into different dimensions; thus spreading their Love throughout the Universe." Mr. Misfit explains with the ease of a seasoned teacher. "Wow, it sounds so beautiful!" she couldn't help but have stars in her eyes at the visualization of such a place. Leon smiles warmly, "Oh it is; more beautiful than you could ever imagine. Only SGs are allowed in our dimension and we have a strict Code as to how we give away our Love and to whom."

"Yes, only Love needs a SG to draw upon though. The fifth source of power is Expression." Mr. Misfit explains, before he coughs out a sphere of sky blue, humming, energy that floats on top of the Love. "The sixth source of power comes from the Third Eye." From the center of his forehead, a dot-like tunnel opens and conjures a sphere of indigo, echoing, energy on top of the sphere of Expression.

"The final and seventh source of power is the Spirit itself!" from the crown of his head, a spear of violet, radiant, energy crashes into the sphere of Creation (another name for Third Eye), causing a ricocheting affect. Each power source meld into a ball of gray, neutral, energy before they split into two separate spheres: one, negative, white and the other, positive, black.

"These are the purest of powers; Cosmic black and Abyss white. They are none of your concern, since you can't even draw on the first source." Mr. Misfit says, waving his hands through the gelatinous substance and messing up its roundness. The energy dissipates due to the imbalance, "Alright seals, normally, require three of these powers in order to be created. One power is to give it form, the other power gives it a purpose and the last power gives it strength to fulfill its purpose; simple no?" from the palm of his hand, three spheres of Creation for form, SI for purpose and Will for strength are conjured.

"It's about time I exposed you to the powers that be." Mr. Misfit says, tossing the twirling spheres at Tenten too fast for her to dodge. Upon impact, the spheres burst into red smoke and consume the bun haired girl. A literal curtain of red smoke drapes around her, sealing her inside its influence.

Inside the red curtains, Tenten could only see red; even her hands and body were red. There didn't seem to be an end to the strangely dark red tint. The only thing she could see was an average looking sword plunged in the ground. Not one to just leave a weapon lying around, Tenten attempts to remove it. Once she grasps the handle, she can feel her chakra being drained into the sword and then a plume of fire burns her hands as she cowers away from the sword.

"Welcome to the Dimensional Seal: Red Room, it's all about SI in this place, heh heh heh. I can keep this seal going for days in your dimension; though I could easily make a few days a few years in this dimension! With the right mixture of power, time can be your bitch!" Mr. Misfit's voice echoes throughout the room.

"What do you want me to do?!" Tenten yells, the pain from her burns adding to her hostility. "Simple really, I want you to keep your hold on the sword for two minutes; I'll let you know when to stop." Something about his dark chuckle made her feel like this would be a long two minutes…

**With Nodnarb and the Homunculi Sisters…**

The Realm of Darkness was Nodnarb's on slice of Hell; a place Death had sealed him for a few centuries. Decay and Sickness welcomed the swirling darkness that surrounded them; its cold embrace felt welcoming to the Homunculi. Several souls spiral around Nodnarb's tongue and reform his body; with the sin purged from the souls, they are allowed to pass on. "Well that sucked… That blonde idiot is going to be the death of me." Good thing he didn't use seal slinging on him or he would be in serious trouble. The dark guy could feel the souls howling inside the deepest pit of his being; he had to get rid of all the innocence!

Opening a rift in the darkness, Nodnarb and the Homunculi sisters appear a few miles away from Dublith City. Gapping his mouth wide, the dark guy unleashes a ghoulish howl, along with the innocence from all the souls of Fullmetal City! The souls flee in droves, leaving behind all their sin in flashes of red, orange and yellow energy. The souls all gather around Nodnarb like lost sheep and the dark guy can only sigh.

_"They better be lucky I don't work for Death anymore; she would have loved to have all these souls."_ It was almost a Death Slinger Creed that any soul you take becomes your slave; until they are strong enough to break free. Since he wasn't a Death Slinger though, he had no need for them; their sin was plenty.

"Alright listen up, you are all dead now. Sucks I'm sure, but it's happened and behind you. Now y'all got to get the fuck away from me. I don't care where you go, just leave me the fuck alone." Nodnarb declares, earning roars of outrage and fury!

**_"You're the reason we're all dead in the first place!"_** a young soul screams, which only causes the gathered souls to chant their agreement! "Oh sure blame me for doing my job. You were all obviously supposed to die; otherwise you would be alive no?"

"Actually, that Cyrus guy is the reason you're all dead. It was thanks to his actions that these Homunculi were born and I was sent here in the first place. Be glad I'm letting you go; I could just as easily make you all my bitch slaves for eternity." Nodnarb suggests his cloak of darkness looms over them all. The souls wisely decide to flee as they fly into the sky and onto better things.

"How are we going to heal Decay without souls to make Philosopher's Stones?" Sickness asks, having felt the upsurge of souls leaving this earth. Nodnarb just chuckles, "The soul itself isn't really needed. What is needed, is the soul's Survival Instincts. Or to put it simply, it's the red stuff you're made of. Ever wonder why it sounds like the souls are in pain and howling? It is because they are trapped in what I like to call 'Sink or Swim'." Both girls cock their heads to the side in confusion.

"Alright look, the souls in this Philosopher's Stone aren't full souls; for souls never really die. Inside the stone is the power of SI, the will to escape their horrid fates trapped inside of living beings. SI holds a person's fears and all other negative emotions to fuel it. That's why a Philosopher's Stone can get weaker, each time SI is used, another soul is set free." Nodnarb explains a plume of SI erupts from his hand, amazing the two Homunculi. It was like looking at someone hold your blood in their hands! It felt the same, smelt the same and even looked the same!

"I had no idea, wow, Rouge Slingers truly are amazing BB!" Decay cheers, she couldn't wait to get her body back! "I know right, anyway this is just energy. I'll need someone who knows what they're doing to restore you to full health, Sickness take me to your Sisters." Said girl gulps. She didn't know how they would react to an outsider stepping foot in their home.

"Relax Sickness, it's not like I haven't faced your kind before. I'm sure I can handle whatever they throw at me!" Nodnarb says, pointing towards the barricaded Dublith town and walking towards it. The entire town was warped inside a dome of pure SI that seemed to bleed a negative aura. Hoping for the best, Sickness picks up her sister's head and follows the dark guy to their home.

**With Naruto…**

It was a grueling task, but the Armor Suit trio managed to bury every dead citizen of Fullmetal City. The loss of so many lives weighed heavily on their souls, but not all was lost. It seemed some of the children had somehow been spared; they were taken to underground bunkers before it was too late. Many tears were shed as the children became orphans in the span of minutes; the graveyard saw a massive increase in number.

"Crimson Suit-kaasan, what will we do now?" A little girl asks, fear and tears evident in her eyes. Kushina kneels down in front of the girl and pats her on the head lovingly, "Why you live my dear. I know it will be hard; I've lost someone I loved as well. The one thing that can never be taken from you is the love your parents gave you. Even in death, their love remains and it will keep you content." The girl seemed to respond well to her words as a small smile graces her face.

"Why did that girl have to kill everyone?" a little boy cries, balled up in the corner of the room. He had lost everything due to that girl; his mom, dad, brother and sister were all gone now. Kushina couldn't answer that question, not when the only person helping them was somewhat to blame; the children would never understand.

The two Uzumaki suits spent their day cheering the children up in various ways. Naruto, would make several replica suits from scrap metal and transmuted them into miniature cars that the kids got to drive around the city in. It was nice to see the smiling faces of children, trying so desperately to forget what transpired. Kushina would take care of the infants, rocking them to sleep and feeding them when needed. The Kyuubi used the time to rest and reflect on things; he had a lot to think about.

Cyrus watched them interact with the children from the telescope in his Observatory; he didn't feel he deserved to be around them. He had failed to protect his people, failed to keep the home his ancestor built safe and worse of all, was to blame for all the deaths. Even though he didn't kill them with his own hands, his actions and selfishness caused them to die. _"I'm so sorry Trish… Because of my selfishness and arrogance, so many people have died. Friends you worked with, people you loved; all died…"_ It was only a matter of time before the Homunculi came for him again; so relocating was futile. He had nothing left to live for; the darkest thoughts seemed to swirl in his mind as his goal become clear. Walking over to a table, the corpse of an elderly woman lies silently on it.

Resolved to his fate, Cyrus purposely tries to create the impossible and restore life to the corpse in the form of Human Transmutation. With the ritual complete and all the necessary procedures met, Cyrus cuts his finger and slams his hands on the transmutation array. An influx of raging red lightning shoots from his hands and onto the corpse as it glows ominously. A burst of alchemic imbalance is thrown about wildly as Cyrus gives a silent apology to the woman he was using. Another transmutation array appears beneath them as violet lightning flashes so brightly; it blinds him for a brief moment.

When Cyrus opens his eyes, he finds himself in the vast void that held Truth and its Gate; the intangible being doesn't seem shocked to see him. "I'll admit, I didn't expect you to come back so soon." The ever present grin seemed rather big.

"No, I suppose you expect me to return for my sister. While the thought is tempting, I still need my alchemy in order to set things right. I have come for something else." Cyrus explains, but Truth already knew why he was here.

"You're looking for a way to defeat the Homunculus, or more importantly, that other-worlder Nodnarb. I know how to do both, but what price would you pay for this knowledge? I already have your sister; will you follow your ancestors and give up an arm, leg or body?" Truth asks, even though he knew what the man would give. Things were easier when people understood what it was and what it expected of them. It was the hollow shell of humanity, the negativity of all alchemists; it knew everything about those it met because it literally was a part of them.

"I will give you what you've wanted since I first forged the Philosopher's Stone; my life. Though my life is not an Equivalent Exchange for all the souls lost due to my actions, by giving my life, I hope to at least atone for my sins. I will give you half my life for the information I need and the rest once I have killed the Homunculus and Nodnarb; that's fair right?" Cyrus offers. Truth can't help it fits of laughter. "You think I want you dead? Tell me what would killing you teach you? Fear the almighty God, the Ever Expanding Universe?" Oh all the responses, Cyrus was not expecting that.

"What do you want then? My arm, you can have it; take whatever is needed! I must correct the mistake I made before it takes anymore lives." Cyrus chokes out, trying not to appear weak in front of Truth. He had caused enough death in his world; it was time he faced up to his sins.

"Why must you humans only learn self-sacrifice through hardships and trails? Only now do you see the errors of your ways, just how truly non-evolved you really are. Normally that would be enough for the information on Homunculi. To kill this Nodnarb is beyond me, for he is not of my domain. I do know of someone who can help, but her toll is worse than my own." Truth explains, for once his gleaming smile sours into a flat line.

"Whatever it takes to stop that man…" Cyrus says, no longer afraid of the Truth and the possibility of Death; oh was he in for a treat. The Gates of Truth open, revealing the shadowy void of knowledge and the Giant Eye of Soul Searching leers at Cyrus for a second time. Shadow-like ethereal hands pour out of the gate and latch onto the Strong Body Alchemist. He could feel the information pooling into his every pore, the hands pull him inside the gate. The sheer knowledge of the world, the Universe itself began to break him down both physically and mentally, forcing all this upon him. He becomes one with the flow of Absolute and drifts further through the gate.

A devilishly giggle seems to draw him off his course, literally ripping his soul in half; one half continues down the Gate, while the other is taken to Death's domain. "So you want to kill a Rouge Slinger ay?" a heavenly voice says. It was so gracefully feminine, the sound alone radiated beauty. Yin Cyrus (the half that went to Death's Domain) searches through the vast void of sheer agony, all the pooling fountains of blood, the hanging corpses that drape overhead and in the center of it all is the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Words could not begin to describe her; her skin seemed to glow with power, so much so that it brought him to his knees.

"Well, I asked you a question." The beauty says, tapping her foot impatiently. Honestly, she had better things to do; she was Death after all. There were so many people to kill and corrupt and so little time to do it. Yin Cyrus tries to speak, but the words won't leave his throat, so he just nods. Never before had he ever felt so weak and powerless.

"I've been after Nodnarb ever since he broke out of the Prison Dimension I made specifically for him. It really sucks when one of your best Death Slingers goes Rouge on you; all the power I wasted on him. With that said, he cannot be killed; hell no Death Slinger can." Death explains with a shrug. Death Slingers were immortal, no matter how many times you killed them, they'd just return to her where she would revive them; it was a cycle.

"Surely there must be a way to defeat this man! No one is invincible; he must have a weakness I can exploit!" Yin Cyrus declares, finding his strength once more. He didn't give up half his life to be told there was nothing he could do against the man.

"I said they cannot be killed, but they can be sealed by a Seal Slinger. If they aren't sent back to me or find some souls to leech off of, then they will simply rot for as long as the seal will last. It's almost a fitting punishment for them; being trapped in a prison for however long you can manage. Not to mention they will remain weak even after breaking the seal." Death explains. Normally she would never allow a mere mortal to have such intimate knowledge of the Dark Arts, but he wouldn't be mortal for too long.

True hope flashes on Yin Cyrus' face at the knowledge. It wasn't impossible; Nodnarb could be defeated and made to rot in a fate worse than hell; that sounded perfect! That hope was crushed when Death walks over to him and places a frigid hand on his face.

"Truth brought you here, I'm sure he informed you of my toll. For this information, I will take half your soul. Upon the sealing of Nodnarb, you will become a Death Slinger at my command. You will follow Naruto Uzumaki and his companions and await further orders." Death explains. Before he can even think of a response, the beautiful woman's jaw dislocates and she devours Yin Cyrus whole! Yin Cyrus falls from the ceiling, a hook through his chest and hangs over Death's head. She couldn't help but giggle at the irony of it all. It seemed Cyrus would become the very thing he wished to destroy…

A ghastly head seems to appear out of nowhere as it spits out a trembling Cyrus. Drawn by the obvious signs of alchemy, Kushina, Kyuubi and Naruto were by his side; making sure whatever the man had done had no adverse side effects.

"I did it…" Cyrus chants over and over again. "What did you do Cyrus-san?" Kushina asks. Due to her Comprehension, she could estimate what happened in the room, but the why eluded her. Why would he perform Human Transmutation and what toll had he paid? Cyrus stops his chanting and rises to his feet. Without a word, he goes to his Study and locks the door behind him.

"Well that can't be good…" Naruto says, at times like this everyone needs to come together and work out a plan. With so many orphans and only two adults, the term Crisis didn't do it justice! There were a total of sixty-eight children out of the hundreds upon thousands that once walked the streets merrily.

"We have to give him some time Naruto, he has lost so many loved ones. People he swore to protect, people he saw as a surrogate family; whipped out in mere seconds. For now, all we can do is allow everyone to recover at their own pace; help the children live with this pain." Kushina says whatever the Strong Body Alchemist had done was his business. Naruto gives one last glace at Cyrus' door, before he accompanies his mother to the Library.

Walking out of the Observatory, Naruto is struck with despair at the state of the once vibrant city. The streets were empty, only a thin mist seemed to drift down the streets. There were no people running shops and stores, no people buying things, conversing about their humble lives; nothing but a dreary atmosphere. Stepping inside the Library, the children are all hurdled in a corner in fear, "Yellow Suit-niisan!" upon seeing his trademark yellow suit and Uzumaki crest, the kids rush over and embrace the suit; seeing him and his mother as their saviors!

"Hey guys, hope we didn't keep you too long." Naruto says with a goofy laugh, while scratching the back of his head. "What was that red lightning niisan?" a little girl asks in fright. Many of the children share her fears; they all remember seeing red lightning before…

"No need to worry children, Major Cyrus is working on a way to keep you all safe." Kushina says, at least she could only hope so. Her words seem to sway the children; smiling faces replace timid and fearful ones. "Major Cyrus is so awesome! I wonder if I can become an Alchemist and kick that monsters butt!" a five year old boy says with stars in his eyes. Everyone shares a laugh at the boy; Naruto even picks him up and places him on his shoulder.

"You think so huh kid? Well Alchemy isn't something just anyone can do. Not only does it require a full understanding of chemistry, physics and ancient alchemical theory, but a natural talent for using energy and matter." Naruto explains, deflating the kid's hype, "Uh… What's chemistry?" Kushina giggles at her son, _"You're one to talk, you don't know anything about that stuff either. If not for your natural ability to manipulate energy and having been through the Gate, half your transmutations would Rebound in your face!"_

"Well I can do it! I'll study real hard and push myself so I can become an Alchemist and protect my home!" the five years old declares. Naruto chuckles, "What's your name kid?" taking a closer look at the boy, he can see his dark skin and blue eyes; his hair is shaved close on the back and sides, leaving a silver blonde crown on top.

"Briggs Buccaneer Armstrong, a descendant to the great Scar and Major General Olivier Mira Armstrong! Alchemy is in my blood, can you not see it in my pulsating muscles?!" Briggs declares, removing his shirt and flexing his, surprisingly, exceptionally sculpted and well defined musculature for someone his age. While not bulging with muscle, the boy did have a toned six pack.

"I've heard the name Armstrong before. Cyrus-san once told me his mentor was Louis Giantos Armstrong. Apparently, the Armstrongs are a noble family that is known for their Combat Alchemy." Kushina says, causing Briggs' head to inflate from the praise; it was still an illustrious name to hold even in his time. "Family names mean nothing in battle. Your fancy name won't save you in battle; you have to be willing to work towards it!" The blonde Uzumaki knew a certain emo back in Konoha that was all about his clan.

"Naruto is right Briggs-kun, vanity and pride are different things. A person may be proud without being vain. Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity to what we would have others think of us." (Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice) Kushina says Briggs and the other children take her words to heart; all wanting to make sure monsters never took any more parents, siblings and friends again!

"Well we're in a Library; stroke your fans of youth!" Naruto declares, getting cheers from the children, who scatter around the tower high shelves of books and sort out the ones they can comprehend.

**Meanwhile, in Alterland…**

The bun haired kunoichi lays in the crimson void of the Red Room. She had tried to count the seconds she had been inside the red mirage, but stopped counting after one hundred. Her clothes were burnt to a crisp, with only a few shreds covering her 'twins' and 'madam'. Her skin was raw with burns, but she refused to give up. The burning sword was still embedded in the ground as Tenten drags herself to try again.

Suddenly, a chill rocks her spine, "Dear Kami… The flames of youth have reached even this far…" the thought truly made her stomach turn and her skin go pale. It seems even in death, the flames of youth still shined brightly!

**Meanwhile in Konohagakure…**

War broke out during the Chunin Exams and hysteria ran rampant. Might Guy was currently defending his home village and villagers from the forces of Suna and Oto. Their barely Chunin taijutsu was no match for the renowned Taijutsu Master; four might as well be one to him. The Oto-nin comes from all sides, aiming to plunge their kunai into various vital spots. Guy easily weaves through their attacks, grabbing two of the Oto nin wrists and snapping them like toothpicks, resulting in screams of agony. He leaps over another and drop kicks the attacker in the chest, sending him through the Stadium wall! Before the other two could recover, the Taijutsu Master flips towards them and unleashes a melee of bone shattering punches and kicks on them.

The final Oto-nin roars in blind fury, lashing out with a kunai, but Guy easily catches it. Before he can send him crashing into the purple barrier containing the Sandaime and Orochimaru, a wave of sheer joy and inspiration hits him. Tears of joy splash down his face, "Never have I felt such youthfulness! I can tell it's far, but still so vastly impressive that I must turn my flames into an Inferno of Youth to even come close to matching its intensity!" flames burn from the Taijutsu master's eyes!

Punching the enemy with stone crushing force, the Oto-nin is sent flying literally to the violet barrier; incinerating him upon impact. In almost an instant, four of the Eight Gates are opened as Guy's skin turns red from the rapid blood increase, veins erupt from his temples, sweat begins to evaporate at such a rate, green aura oozes off him and chakra whirls around him! Kicking out his leg, Guy focuses chakra to his stationary foot and spins it, along with him, at speeds so fast, the wind churns around him; forming a twister of power!

"Violent-Leaf Maelstrom (Geki-Konoha Dai Uzu)!" Guy roars inside the spinning kick vortex he created. The winds act like a vacuum and draw in all enemies unfortunate enough to be in the area, right into a spinning kick with enough force to break necks and tear off limbs!

Guy cancels his kinjutsu with a mighty stomp that crumbles the ground around him in a web like pattern. Suna-nin, armed with fans, found the ground they stood on crumble, Kakashi swiftly ends their lives with an Earth Release: Devouring Earth. The 'blast zone' is turned into massive jaws of rock that swallow and crush the enemy.

Before they can rest another squad of Suna-nin closes in on them; Kakashi ends them as well with his infamous Raikiri, only he used the electrical energy to surge around the area; giving it a longer range. The ration chakra dances along the ground, blazing a trail of destruction in its wake; taking out an Oto-nin from behind. _"Something has Guy fired up. I haven't heard him talk about youth since the death of his student."_ Kakashi ducks under a slash from a katana and stabs his attacker in the kidneys with a Chidori infused kunai. Turning his head, the Copy-nin fires a Great Fireball (Gookakyuu no jutsu) at an incoming Oto-nin, burning him alive, before he leaps back to back with Guy.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I missed the youthful Guy." Kakashi says to his eternal rival. Guy helped him deal with the loss of Naruto; the grueling training really helped him get his mind off of things. He almost forgot how it felt to act like the Anbu Commander he used to be. Guy chuckles, "It's good to be back. It would be un-youthful of me to mope around. I owe it to Tenten to fan my flames of youth twice as hard for the both of us! Konoha's Sublime Green Beast of Prey is on the prowl!" the Taijustu Master gives his rival his trademark 'nice guy pose' genjutsu, which consists of giving a thumbs up, winking and smiling with teeth so white they give off a ping. With that, both Jonin vanish, one in raw speed, the other a Shunshin, followed by a whirlwind of leaves.

**With Naruto…**

The moon had cast a dark shadow over Fullmetal City. The streets lights were on, but the houses were dark and barren; only the Hospital had any signs of light and life. The children had literally read themselves to sleep at the library. With the help of Naruto's Replica Suits, the children were shipped to the hospital and put in beds; it was the only place big enough to house all of them. The Kyuubi had been missing ever since the battle ended, but he couldn't go too far or else he gets left behind should they leave. Could they leave, with things how they are?

Naruto watches the children sleeping, some more soundly than others. He chuckles darkly, _"Why do I envy them? They get to sleep, have a moment of rest where nothing matters and nothing is out to get you."_ Ever since the first encounter with the Ghouls, he hadn't had much sleep. Speaking of Death Slingers, "I can't believe that teme had a hand in helping orchestrate such sorrow and death to the innocent… I'll never forgive him." He had to put a stop to Nodnarb once and for all, but how? The dark guy was like a hundred Ghouls in one; his Dark Arts seemed too great for his alchemy.

"Don't give up until the end." Kushina says, placing a comforting hand on her son's shoulder. Naruto places a hand on top of hers, wishing he could feel its warmth; still the gesture was enough to brighten his soul.

"Yeah, I can't give up; I'm Uzumaki Naruto, the Seal Slinging, Whirlwind Alchemy using, shinobi of Konohagakure! I have to get back home and show Jiji and Sasuke-teme how awesome I am dattebayo!" Naruto declares, pumping his fist in the air. Why waste time, since he didn't need sleep, he got right to studying his main element: air. He got books on air pressure, currents, anything he could get his hands on.

The next day seemed to blur by. The children woke up, Kushina made them breakfast and they joined Naruto at the Library, studying various topics. The yellow suit was both surprised and inspired by the children's eagerness to learn and develop; they study basic principles of gravity and geology. This continued until dinner, where everyone tried to get Naruto and Kushina to eat; that was awkward. The children would then wash up and take their books to bed, while Naruto and Kushina did studies of their own; Cryus never once left his study.

This routine continued for three days, no one really minding the calm atmosphere and time to just sit down with a good book and read the day away. Kushina made sure to keep the kids active by having them start 'Ninja Training'. Nothing too serious, just a 2 mile jog, followed by swimming for a mile and ending it with a sprint to home; had to make sure they could keep up. By the time she was done with them, sleep was a blessing they gladly gave thanks to.

Today was like any other day for them. The sun was out, bringing its welcoming light and warmth. The children were outside in the training fields, swimming laps like their lives depended on it; maybe because it did!

"Come on I don't want to hear any whining ya babies dattebane!" Kushina roars, her palms flat on the ground as blue lightning flashes around her. Chains made from the surroundings form and race towards the swimming kids, just barely missing them. The children didn't have time to complain; it would just result in water down their throats. Naruto watches from a nearby tree, "Poor bastards." Suddenly, a chain with a red glowing tip races towards him, he leaps into a tree and avoids being blown to smitherns!

"Same goes for you Naru-chan. You are my son and I can't have you getting weak on me." Kushina says. _You took to my alchemy like a fish in water! I'm impressed with your progress, what was your profession in life?"_ Kimblee asks. Honestly, the man never ceased to find an opportunity to talk; it was like having the Kyuubi all over again! "If you must know, I was a kunoichi." That seemed to really get him going. "So you were an assassin?" well no… Yes… Maybe, who knows really?

"It's refreshing to see children so eager to train their minds and body." Cyrus says, startling Kushina and Naruto, who falls out of the tree he was hiding in. "Dude where have you been? It's been like three days and not a word!" Cyrus chuckles darkly, "I was studying; same as you apparently. Tell me, do you know how to defeat a Death Slinger?" that was an odd question.

"Yeah, you overwhelm them with power and eventually they fade away. I remember using some seal on a Ghoul once and it was cut into countless small cubes; it was so awesome!" Naruto declares, it was his first defeat of a Ghoul and he could almost remember the seal's name.

"Hmmm that's one way, but not the right way. You see, a Death Slinger is an immortal being, who serves Death herself. So killing one is basically impossible, since it will just return to its Master to be healed or use nearby souls to replenish itself." Cyrus explains, shocking the two Uzumakis. How could the Armetis man have known such intimate information on something outside of his realm? Hell even they didn't know that and they were training to be Seal Slingers; a Death Slinger's mortal enemy.

"Well how DO you stop a Death Slinger then Mr. Smarty pants?" Naruto asks a bit annoyed he hadn't gotten that far in his Seal Slinging studies. For a moment, Cyrus' eyes show great gloom and sorrow, but it is soon replaced with his condescending smirk, "Simple Mr. Seal Slinger, you seal them away, where they can't go back to Death and are away from souls." Honestly, it was so simple and yet so ingenious!

"Wow, I must admit, that does sound like a valid course of action. Tell us, how did you come across this Cyrus-san?" Kushina asks. With little to no knowledge of how Seal Slinging even worked, there was no way he came upon this discovery on his own. Cyrus just chuckles darkly, "I don't think this is an appropriate place to be discussing this." He glances over to the swimming children and Kushina picks up on his hint.

Rat (Ne)! With the tectonic energy gathered, she slams her palms flat on the ground and blue lightning dances around her. From the ground, a Golem is conjured from the ground at attention. "Alright kids, Naruto and I are leaving to do some research with Major Cyrus, this Golem will keep you safe until our return." The kids stop swimming and groan, only for the Golem to pick up chunks of earth and tosses them at them.

"No groaning, no one said your training was over!" Kushina says over her shoulder. The kids urgently resume their laps under the watchful eye slots of the Golem, while the Alchemist Trio head back to the Observatory. Meanwhile, from the forest outside of Fullmetal, Kyuubi feels a strange shift in tectonic energy, **"Hmmm I've felt this baleful aura before, Death Slinger…"** he growls lowly, before he races towards the Observatory.

The Kyuubi beats the others and waits by the main entrance. Once Cyrus and the Uzumaki suits arrive, Kyuubi growls at Cyrus, **"What did you do human?" **Cyrus narrows his eyes at the fox suit, while Naruto and Kushina look on in confusion.

"I beg your pardon." Cyrus says, not liking Kyuubi's tone, tone be damned! **"Don't play coy with me human, your aura has changed drastically!" **Now Kushina was interested. The Kyuubi, even in this form, was still a being of raw chakra, energy, aura whatever you want to call it. Its ability to sense energies were far beyond even her own; so what did the metal fox sense?

**"I wouldn't expect these two Uzumaki-bakas to notice, but nothing gets by me. Your aura reeks like that of a Death Slinger!"** Kyuubi roars, syncing with the tectonic energy to prepare a transmutation; red lightning flashes around him. "What the hell are you talking about Kyuubi-teme, how could Cyrus-taichou be a—"

"Hahahaha I guess Kyuubi was the first to figure some of it out. I wouldn't call myself a Death Slinger just yet; more of a scholar of the Dark Arts." Cyrus confesses the madness evident in his sick leer. Naruto is shocked beyond recognition, while Kushina sides with Kyuubi and prepares a transmutation in a flash of blue lightning.

"You'd kill me so quickly? After I took you in, taught you MY WAYS, INTRODUCED YOU TO MY PEOPLE!?" Cyrus asks, his voice rising until he broke out in a yell. For a brief moment, an apparition of sheer rage flares from the Elric, before he riles it back in. Kushina cancels both her and Kyuubi's transmutations, much to the metal Bijuu's ire.

"You want to know what I did. I paid Death's toll, I gave half my soul in order to discover Nodnarb and all Death Slinger's weakness and it was worth it!" Cyrus declares, from out of nowhere, a fiendish tome appears in his hands. The tome trickles negative energy by the bucket full, it made even Kyuubi ill by its presence.

"Evil's Digest, the official tome of Death Slingers; holds the secrets to their Dark Arts. I've figured out their Death Magic is broken down into three paths: Death magic, Hex magic and Vex magic." Cyrus says, reading a section from the vile tome. Before either can question him, he continues.

"Each type of Dark magic has power over one of the aspects of life. Death magic can tear the fabric of space/time apart by using physical materials for form and one or more of the Seven Deadly Sins to fuel it. All Death magic is designed to and powered to kill, the more lives taken then stronger the magic gets." Cyrus explains what he can decipher of the Death magic archives. The tome was much like Mr. Misfit's book; it didn't reveal everything and required a certain sacrifice to unlock more.

"Hex magic can influence a person through their emotions, turning them into either a grand weapon or a deadly virus. In order to influence others, your own emotions must be refined and your Ego must be stronger than their Will. Hex magic is designed to control others and the more slaves you have, the stronger the magic gets." Cyrus explains what he can of the Hex magic archives. By this point, the Uzumakis and even the Kyuubi were in a stunned awe. The acts of the Death Slingers seemed truly atrocious, but it wasn't over yet.

"And finally, Vex magic can steal your Lifespan through the senses: sight (both physically and spiritually), hearing, taste, touch, thermoception (sense heat or cold), proprioception (sense where your body parts are, relative to other body parts), Nociception (pain), Equilibrioception (sense of balance) and even time itself! In order to steal someone's lifespan, specific ingredients are required along with the heartlessness one who steals lives must have." Cyrus says closing the tome and just as it appeared, it vanished in thin air.

"H-how c-could you-" Naruto couldn't grasp the current situation. Cyrus, a once proud and noble Alchemist had traded his soul for power?! "How could I give up everything in order to atone for my sins? How could I justify becoming the very thing that took the souls of my people? Simple really, I just did it!" Cyrus declares, to him the ends justified the means. He would give anything to put a stop to Nodnarb.

"I see, if that's the case, Naruto!" Kushina calls, gesturing for her son to come over to where she was. No matter what his intentions were, he was still a Death Slinger (as far as she knows) and that made him an enemy. Naruto was conflicted, on one side he had his teacher, his friend and on the other he had his mother.

"I advise you to go with her Naruto. The three of you will need to do some serious research on Seal Slinging for the final battle. Goodbye other-worlders, next time we meet will be our last." Cyrus says, pulling a mirror from his pocket. Once he gazes into it, a bright light blinds everyone and when it dims down, he is gone; leaving them all to ponder his words.

"I can't believe it…" Naruto says, dumbstruck. Kyuubi scoffs at the boy,** "Well believe it, that human can't be trusted anymore. We have to prepare, get the hell out of this dimension."** Naruto refused to believe it! True, he hadn't known Cyrus for that long, but he just couldn't give up on him!

"He's not our enemy Kyuubi! Not after all we've been through! All the researching, training and fighting we did together!" Naruto declares gaining the Kyuubi's increasing ire. Before a fight can ensue, "Enough, whether or not Cyrus is friend or foe is a problem for another time. Our problem now is finding a way to defeat Nodnarb and his Homunculi. It's about time Alchemy took a backseat, while Seal Slinging took a front seat." Kushina says, standing between the two of them. With their own thoughts set aside, Naruto and Kyuubi turn away from each other with a huff, **"Tsk whatever. You humans can do as you please, I'm outta here!"** with that, the metal Bijuu dashes back to the nearby forests.

"Tsk what a teme, and after everything Cyrus-taichou did for us too." Naruto grumbles, Kushina just places a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Leave him be Naruto, the Kyuubi does not trust easily. It has spent generations being controlled and sealed against its will. Even if its crimes are great, for an ageless being; all it has is time."

"I guess that's all either of the three of us have now. Come on kaa-san, we have much research to do. Ugh, curse Cyrus for making me read!" Naruto yells. Yet another thing he owed to the man; all the months of studying and researching had engraved the importance of analyzing and investigating everything. With that, they make their way back to the Library to check on the kids and get started on their counterattack.

**Meanwhile, with Tenten…**

The bun-haired girl was covered in burns, her skin an ugly reddish tint. Her breaths were labored and heavy and she barely had any strength to stand. _"Alright Tenten… This is just like the time Guy-sensei had my team dodge Great Fireballs from Kakashi-taichou; you can do this! If this place is all about survival, then I'll just have to endure!"_ with that in mind, the bun-haired teen drags herself towards the embedded sword and shakily grips it.

She grits her teeth when the blade begins to siphon her chakra and project it outward in a fiery burst! The blast thrusts Tenten faraway from the sword and causes even more burns on her body. She withers on the ground in sheer pain, the tears she shed evaporating as soon as they hit her hot face.

"Is this the full extent of your Survival Instincts? Is this what Konohagakure has to offer in the way of Kunoichi? A weak little girl, who flinches and flees from pain, and has the endurance of a thin twig, HA it seems the recent Hokage has become frail with his shinobi." Mr. Misfit says with disgust. Mrs. Misfit, now there was a kunoichi! A female warrior, able to endure and adapt to any given environment she is thrust into.

"Shut… Up…" Tenten growls, how dare he question her skills as a kunoichi?! She had endured far worse than this, had been through too much to give up! She was the daughter of one of Konoha's finest Anbu couples, her father died honorably during the Kyuubi attack and her mother was MIA when she was younger; she had to get out of this crazy place! She had to find her mother, whether dead or alive didn't matter to her; just to know where she was would be enough for her.

Tenten literally drags herself over to the sword, ignoring the sheering pain racking her body. Once she reaches it, she uses it to pick herself up and grips it with all her might. When her chakra is turned into flames, the bun-haired girl didn't let go. Even though the pain was maddening and the flames burned the shell (her chakra skin) off her, she still endured. The seconds ticked on by and before she knew it, the sword started to loosen.

"AHHHHHHH!" Tenten screams in both agony and determination, finally pulling the sword free and unleashing a flaming slash arc in front of her. The flaming arc literally burns down the red curtains and reveals the chilling clearing from before. The bun-haired girl falls to the ground from exhaustion; though a smile could be seen on her face. She did it, not only did she keep her hold for more than two minutes; she even freed it from its prison. The sword began to glow bright red, before the blade itself shattered! All Tenten could do was pass out from the shock, while Mr. Misfit picks up the red sword handle. Adding some SI to it, raging flames dance out of where the blade was located, before it condenses into red steel. Giving it a few swings, a trail of fire is left in its wake.

"You really are something young one. I can't wait for you to meet your sister." Mr. Misfit says with a grin, picking Tenten up bridal style and leaves in a dimension hole.

* * *

And done! I'd say more, but my internet is shit right now sooo enjoy!


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